The director of the Dirección General de Impuestos Internos (DGII), Juan Hernández said that despite the success of his department in increasing the fiscal tax revenues, the amounts are not sufficient to compensate for the loss of income forecast for when the government reduces import duties. The government wants to reduce import duties, but increase the sales tax and has met with opposition from the PRD and the PRSC, the two leading opposition political parties. Increases in tax revenues are the result of less tax evasion and more administrative efficiency. The new DGII has made it easier for tax payers to pay. The DGII collected RD$3,922,483 million for the first semester of 1998 in income taxes, up from RD$3,299.396 for the same period in 1997. Taxes on goods and services in 1998 were RD$3,625.576 million, up from RD$3,043.523 million in 1997. The government estimates it will forego RD$4,500 million pesos once a bill to reduce tariffs is passed by Congress.
