PLD presidential candidate Danilo Medina would create a uniform 10% tax rate on personal and corporate income, and totally exempt wage-earners with incomes below DR$8,566 monthly (around US$535). With this measure, he said, "we would pay less, but we would all pay." Current tax rates range from 15% to 25%. The proposal is one element of an economic package Medina outlined yesterday at the prestigious American Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Speaking to 500 of the nation’s business leaders, Medina said that the ITBI tax – equivalent of a European VAT tax, or point-of-sale tax – would replace the income lost by a reduction in income tax-derived revenues. He also proposed to eliminate the charges imposed on major dollar exchange transactions, currently 5%. Medina stated that, if elected, he would make the Central Bank truly autonomous, in order that it can better control inflation and keep the currency stable. Taxes on luxury housing and undeveloped lots, currently evaded as often as paid, would be eliminated, in favor of a uniform, modest levy on all property, including undeveloped land. He would also foster reform of tax and accounting laws so that Dominican business would no longer need to "undervalue" imports, and so that corporate financial statements would be "transparent and credible." Without such innovations, he said, it is impossible to "develop a capital market." He also favors the law that would create a stock market in SD as a means to encourage savings, provide new sources of finance for business, and make possible the self-funding of individual pensions. The PLD standard-bearer would also fortify regulation in the banking, insurance, pension fund and telecommunications sectors in order to provide better consumer protection. He would also strive to reduce unemployment from 13.8% to 10%, keep inflation in the single digit range, and exceed the 8% growth rate in GNP that has, he said, "attracted the curious eyes of the world." The DR’s economy has been hailed in some quarters as the world’s fastest growing. Another measure advocated by Medina is the establishment of a commission to prioritize the major construction projects of the state. "Infrastructure programs" valued at DR$75.297 billion (around US$4.7 billion), would be carried out by his administration, he said. "If almighty God and the Dominican people bestow on me the opportunity to serve," he vowed, "to carry out the most ambitious reform program," in the nation’s history.
