DR Cost of Living - worldwide comparison

[Xavier_Onassis]

That is a flat tax neither progressive nor regressive. The us income tax is progressive and sometimes utilities like water are regressive like.

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Any flat tax is regressive in a country where there is a disparity of incomes. Gasoline costs (and the cost of gasoline used in motoconchos and guaguas, which are passed onto passengers) take a larger share of a poor person's income than that of a rich person.

The purpose of a high gasoline tax, besides that of funding road construction and repair, is to encourage people to drive more efficient vehicles. The DR has no oil wells, so all petroleum products must be imported. Europe does the same thing. It taxes fuel a lot and uses the revenues to expand public transportation. If the car per person ratio of Paris were that of Los Angeles, there would be no parking for most of the cars in the city. In Los Angeles, they tear down some warehouses or supermarkets and build a parking lot. In Paris, they would have to tear down historic monuments and buildings.

 

[bob saunders]

Such an important subject begs for a thorough analysis, to wit:

Beer in 12 oz bottles is often cheaper. 12 Presidentes sell at Total Wine in Miami for $11.99 plus 7% tax. That is $1.07 per beer, about 8.9? per oz.

If you settle for Bud, it is $7.99 plus tax, 69?.

Presidente Jumbo is 33 oz, and sells for $120 RD, which is $3.63 US, or 11.02? per oz. If you are like most people, you drink with friends and order the Jumbo, delivered in a bamboo tube and cold with whatever number of plastic cups you ask for. I am not sure why this is, but Presidente Light is far more usual than regular Presidente. In Barahona, a lot of places only serve Presidente Light, and that is all anyone expects.

So if you are going to take your beer home and drink it there, you can do it for less in the US, provided you buy it at a discount beer store, and take it home and chill it yourself.

If you go to any bar, you will probably pay at least $3.00 for that 12 oz. beer, and that is 35? per oz. in the US, whereas a Presidente Jumbo will cost you perhaps $150 RD, or around 11? per ounce. So swigging beer socially costs less in the RD.

If you are extra cheap, you can buy your Presidente at the colmado and cash in the empties.

My conclusion is that drinking with amigos is lots cheaper and more fun in the RD, at least if you are okay with Presidente Light.

120 pesos = 2.80 $US

 

[yacht chef]

There is anouther thread going on about medical insurance as one person said have one less beer a day and get medical insurance
Compair the cost of insurance in the USA to the DR. This is the problem with so many people thy say the DR is so expensive but all thy are
thinking about is beer swiming pools and high end food.

 

[Criss Colon]

The "Purpose" of huge gasoline taxes in the DR, IS NOT to encourage fuel efficiency, it's to buy "Yepetas" for the "Politicos"!
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[Chicagoan]

I don't drink beer, but smoking in the DR is way cheaper than US or Canada.

 

[drSix]

2013 Polaris RZR ATV on Supercarros $20,500. Same year and model on Minneapolis Craigslist, $12,500.

And, my ahole cousin who lives in Fargo just bought one. What the hell is he gonna do with that thing in Fargo? I sure would look good in one on the beach! Guess I'll have to settle for a Yamaha Blaster.

Speaking of... Any chance I could sneak one of those into a shipping container when I get my 'tax free' residency thingy? Would it be classified as a car or an ATV?

 

[william webster]

certainly you could,,, in the container.

we had this conversation not long ago and the consensus wasa you can buy a good used Jeep for the price of a UTV/ATV

I still like the Razr.....

back to container... classification matters little - still way reduced tax - if not free

 

[donP]

Polluting the Air

... but smoking in the DR is way cheaper than US or Canada.

Unfortunately!
It ought to be tenfold more.

donP

 

[Sosua Sonny]

Smoking in the D.R. is cheaper but the blend of Tobacco they use is horrible. Nothing compares to Canadian DuMaurier cigarettes. I smoke 2 packs of them Dominican Marlboro's and it really messes with your throat.

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

It is untrue that US cigarettes sold outside the US are identical to the same brands sold in the US. It is a lot harder to sue a tobacco company outside the US, and we know they manipulate the contents of these things to increase market share of the brand.

 

[Criss Colon]

US brands are "Licensed" to be made in several countries outside the USA.
"Russian Marlboros" are $HIT!
Dominican TOO!
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[rubio_higuey]

That's right CC. Just taste Coca Cola wherever you travel, it will always taste differently (or so the people say, I cannot taste the difference).

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

The license means they can put that name on the pack. It is unrelated to the tobacco rolled inside or the various additives they have used to adulterate it with. They are certainly not above using ingredients that will tend to make your loyalty to that brand addictive. They know what these are, and they know they can put them into the mix with impunity.

In the 1960's, there was only one cigarette that all middle class Mexicans smoked: short, filtered Raleighs. Restaurants rarely sold anything else. If you smoked Records, Deltas, Filtrones, or (the horror! the Horror!) Faros, there would be many who would not take one when offered. If you carried Raleighs, they would be depleted in under an hour. People you had never seen would spring from the wainscoting and beg, "reg?lame un cigarro", they would say. It was the height of bad manners to smoke and not offer one to anyone within a two meter radius.

Then, at some time in the mid-70's, Marlboro Filter Kings took over. By then I had moved to Virginia and I still do not know what marketing marvel caused the switch.

I found that I could get all the benefits of smoking by whirling around and around, (the dizziness), standing out in the rain I could get bronchitis, and I could waste my money in far more creative ways. I got to where I can provoke a coughing fit without smoking at all.

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

Raleighs were produced by Brown & Williamson, which was bought out by RJ Reynolds. Marlboros are a product of Altria, formerly named Phillip Morris.

 

[Tamborista]

Raleighs were produced by Brown & Williamson, which was bought out by RJ Reynolds. Marlboros are a product of Altria, formerly named Phillip Morris.

Yes, thanks for the info, which brand gives you stage IV lung cancer the fastest?
Altria is the parent company of Phillip Morris BTW.

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

Yes, thanks for the info, which brand gives you stage IV lung cancer the fastest?

I have withdrawn as a test monkey from that survey. They never paid for being in it, after all.

There are those that smoke for 80 years and never get cancer. But I have yet to meet a serious smoker who does not cough a lot. Lung cancer take rather a long time to kill you, but a cardiac arrest is very quick.