S
Santiago Fittipaldi
Guest
Freddy- I have been following the recent news on President Mejia's new economic package and am confused by some of its components, particularly as they affect the DR business sector. Since I am lacking some of the background info, I thought maybe you could address these issues for me. I am particularly curious to learn about the impact of the measures on local businesses and on labor and what their reaction has been. It would seem that increasing taxes will be a disincentive for consumption, thereby hurting both purchasing power and sales results. This is similar to when President Mejia withheld Christmas bonues for civil servants, again hurting both retailers - who had a slower Christmas than they expected - and consumers who had saw their purchasing power impacted. Also, was there any discussion prior to these moves of simply trying to tackle low tax revenues by enforcing anti-evasion laws and expanding the tax base instead of boosting tax rates? I'm sure President Mejia must have some good advisers, but I can't imagine that business executives would agree. As an old friend, I trust your judgement and would appreciate some insight. Thanks for your help.