The telephone companies have incorporated into their proposal services formally, the term, “paquetico”, to refer to the refills limited time services Interneta modality that makes things easier, especially for those who live in the informal economy and depend on day-to-day income. But, there is not much news in that area at this time, so it is clear that it is not that type of “package” that I am referring to in this article. Years ago, in one of these attempts at tax reform, the term “paquetazo” was coined to refer to it. Since then, people often speak of paquetico, package and package, to refer to any initiative of this type. The reason is simple, it is usually a set of measures, grouped in a bill, that seek to improve the income of the Dominican State.
The most recent has been adorned with an entire advertising campaign that seeks to present it as a kind of necessary panacea to confront the crisis caused by international uncertainty due to wars and the increase in the price of oil and its impact on public finances, with the name of “anti-crisis plan”, which some economists have called, “mini fiscal reform”, in short, a “fiscal package”.
Critical bells were immediately heard from the opposition, former President Leonel Fernández from Spain criticized the initiative, considering the proposal a nonsense at a time when international organizations such as the World Bank highlight gloomy prospects for the world economy.
Although the Government has insisted that the proposal does not affect the middle class or the poorest, it is clear that there are initiatives that do, and that some of the “candies” of the project have their flaws.
This is the case, for example, of the increase in the exempt limit of Income Tax, ISR, for employees, to just under 40 thousand pesos, an issue in which Senator Omar Fernández has taken the lead, who has recalled that the law mandates that the exempt amount be salaries of less than 52,000, a segment of the population that bears the weight of the crisis with little room for recovery.
Positive is the elimination of the advance payment to micro and small businesses, another of the issues in which the senator for the District has taken the lead.
For its part, the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) warned that the Government’s anti-crisis plan directly affects the middle class and slows the country’s economic growth, because it increases taxes and reduces the investment capacity of private companies.
The National Council of Private Enterprise, CONEP, advocated combating tax evasion and reducing informality, expanding the tax base.
Measures such as increasing the payment for checks and transfers from 0.15 to 0.20 are seen by some sectors as an unnecessary penalty to payment methods that can have the counterproductive effect of stimulating informal transactions and the use of cash.
It is clear that the Dominican Republic cannot continue permanently postponing the quest to regain fiscal health and projects can always be improved.
The Government has made a good attempt with this initiative, especially because it includes, even partially, heartfelt demands such as the elimination of the advance payment and the indexation of the ISR for employees.
The “package”, dressed as an “anti-crisis plan” has, like everything, its pluses and minuses, good things and bad things, which will surely continue to give economists and politicians something to talk about.
