Last week, the Dominican Chamber of Tourism called attention to the new taxes being unilaterally applied by the Ministry of Tourism to finance its activities. The Ministry has been severely under-funded because of the government remitting its allotted budget, and has thus found itself hard pressed to carry out its activities in even a minimal way. Its solution has been for it to tax tourist activities according to a scheme it has sent to the President for his approval and enforcement by decree, or as a bill to be sent to Congress. The President has not done neither, but the Ministry has been applying the taxes and several companies have been paying, while others have been trying to fight the levies on the basis of their illegality. The Chamber of Tourism says that if the system continues it will set a bad precedent because other ministries will be motivated to raise monies to finance their activities in a similar way. The Chamber groups the principal tourism organizations in the country.