In all of the negotiations our country has been going through with the World Bank, the IMF, the Paris Club, the London Club, etc in the past 2-3 years, nobody on their side of the table has looked at some of the budgetary items that could cut even more government expenses.
Do you want a sacred cow? How about government cars? Someone in the past (read Leonel) decided that it would be cheaper for the government to pay for part of the cost of an automobile, than if the government actually owned vehicles for official use.
After all, those government employees need transportation in order to carry out their official duties, right? So it was decided that the government would pay 75% of the cost of a vehicle, and the employee would pay 25%. WITH NO LIMITS.
Every Mercedes 500S you see driving down the street has either a placa that is a placa "OFICIAL", or it starts with a "Z". Hundreds or thousands of them here. What does that mean?
A placa "Oficial" means that the government is paying 75% of the cost of that vehicle, as well as all of the fuel, and most or all of the maintenance. Every "Z" placa means that a member of the Senate or a Diputado has bought, or sold their right to buy, this vehicle without paying either import duty or the ITBIS on that vehicle's cost. Thousands of "Z" placas, on every thing from Mercedes to the huge new buses (not all were bought and exempted by RENOVE) running down every highway in the DR.
Does the member of the Senate or la Camara then pay INCOME TAX if he sells this right to a constituent for $20,000 US, or just pocket it and wink?
If the IMF, or the Paris Club, or whatever creditor the DR has, wanted to seriously help this country survive, why don't they force the government to impose a limit of RD$5000 or $10,000 a month towards ANY government employee's car allowance, force the lucky employee to pay all associated fuel and maintenance costs, and eliminate "duty-free cars" for all members of congress?
Am I anti-Leonel? Anti-Hipolito? No, I am anti-government. All governments are bad, but I am learning new twists on bad things every day here in the DR. All I, as an individual, can do is try to expose what I see as bad things for the general public.
(edited to eliminate some of my ranting)
Do you want a sacred cow? How about government cars? Someone in the past (read Leonel) decided that it would be cheaper for the government to pay for part of the cost of an automobile, than if the government actually owned vehicles for official use.
After all, those government employees need transportation in order to carry out their official duties, right? So it was decided that the government would pay 75% of the cost of a vehicle, and the employee would pay 25%. WITH NO LIMITS.
Every Mercedes 500S you see driving down the street has either a placa that is a placa "OFICIAL", or it starts with a "Z". Hundreds or thousands of them here. What does that mean?
A placa "Oficial" means that the government is paying 75% of the cost of that vehicle, as well as all of the fuel, and most or all of the maintenance. Every "Z" placa means that a member of the Senate or a Diputado has bought, or sold their right to buy, this vehicle without paying either import duty or the ITBIS on that vehicle's cost. Thousands of "Z" placas, on every thing from Mercedes to the huge new buses (not all were bought and exempted by RENOVE) running down every highway in the DR.
Does the member of the Senate or la Camara then pay INCOME TAX if he sells this right to a constituent for $20,000 US, or just pocket it and wink?
If the IMF, or the Paris Club, or whatever creditor the DR has, wanted to seriously help this country survive, why don't they force the government to impose a limit of RD$5000 or $10,000 a month towards ANY government employee's car allowance, force the lucky employee to pay all associated fuel and maintenance costs, and eliminate "duty-free cars" for all members of congress?
Am I anti-Leonel? Anti-Hipolito? No, I am anti-government. All governments are bad, but I am learning new twists on bad things every day here in the DR. All I, as an individual, can do is try to expose what I see as bad things for the general public.
(edited to eliminate some of my ranting)
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