Former president changes tune on online shopping tax row

Santo Domingo.- Amid widespread criticism former president Hipolito Mejia on Monday said "the Government should maintain tax exemptions on online purchases up to US$200, in light of the current legal framework," reverting his previous statement supporting the tax.

Mejía said the tax should be restructured to keep "a few profiteers from distorting it at the expense of the Treasury."

"I’ll always agree that the State must collect taxes from the powerful to support investment on the needs of the needy, I think that the Government should collect this tax from the powerful, which benefit from it without the right to do so," he said

Mejia now calls the measure "illegal" since it "penalizes the thousands of citizens who make minor purchases individually within the framework of the existing legality and as a way to stretch their meager budget."

The opposition leader spoke in a rally of support by youngsters from the PRD party who entered his new party, the PRM.