Finance Minister Rafael Calderon said that since tax reform measures are scheduled for implementation in January 2005, the Mejia administration will delegate the preparation of the tax reform bill to the Fernandez administration that enters office on 16 August. President Mejia had said on Friday he would be leaving tax reform up to the new incumbents.
As reported in El Caribe, the Mejia administration, in its standby agreement with the International Monetary Fund, committed to prepare and submit the bill to Congress. According to Attachment I of the First Review of the IMF Agreement, the government stated it was preparing a proposal with the assistance of international experts that would be subject to technical revision in March 2004 and would be sent to Congress before July 2004. The purported focus of the reform would deal with increasing the tax revenue base in view of the expected reduced import tax revenues once the bilateral agreement with the United States, the DR?s main trading partner, goes into effect. The IMF agreement was signed by Central Bank Governor Jose Lois Malkun, Technical Secretary of the Presidency Carlos Despradel and Finance Minister Rafael Calderon.