The National Council of Business (CONEP) recommended that
the government seek to compromise its formulas with regard to the announced 5%
surcharge on exports. Elena Viyella de Paliza told reporters that in these
difficult times, the best thing for the business community and the government
officials to do would be to find some sort of middle ground on the application
of this new tax that will greatly affect certain sectors. CONEP established this
position after requesting a decision from the Supreme Court on the
constitutionality of the new tax. For Viyella de Paliza and her CONEP, there is
an obvious contradiction in the fact that the government is taxing the very
people that are supposed to produce the dollars to assist the country in
extricating itself from the current crisis. Aleida Placencia, the Hoy journalist
who filed this story, says that CONEP views the 5% tax as a double taxation,
since it is charged on the FOB price, which already includes taxes paid on raw
materials.