Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dar?o G?mez Mart?nez (PRD-Santiago Rodr?guez) announced yesterday that his committee will hold public hearings on the Fern?ndez Administration’s draft law on tariff liberalization. The bill is key to implementing the free trade pacts the DR has concluded with Central American nations and is in the process of finalizing with the member states of the Caribbean Common Market (CARICOM). Asked by reporters if Senators fully understood the importance of adopting the draft law, G?mez responded that of course they do. "If we don’t contemplate the reforms, we’ll be isolating the country" from the current process of globalization and free markets. That said, he warned, "the reforms don’t necessarily have to be those wanted by the Government." He said that his party would prefer finding ways to cut tariffs without having to raise the Transfer Tax on Industrial Goods and Services (ITBIS), as the government claims is necessary in order to maintain balance in state revenue in-flows.
