DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

Social subsidies are double the cost of the frozen income tax exemption, Diario Libre reports, questioning the increasing spending on welfare programs by the Abinader administration.

The Dominican government’s expenditure on social subsidies significantly overshadows the cost of fulfilling a long-ignored legal mandate for annual salary indexation, according to a recent analysis.

In 2024 alone, the government spent a colossal RD$37.11 billion on just two major social assistance programs: the Aliméntate food subsidy (RD$29.68 billion) and the Bonogas fuel subsidy (RD$7.43 billion). This total for just these two programs is more than double the estimated revenue the government would forgo by adhering to the country’s tax law—an estimated RD$18.2 billion annually.

The feature in Diario Libre’s economic section points out that the disparity highlights a critical debate over...