According to today?s press, the Center for Economic Research for the Caribbean (CIECA) and the Father Juan Montalvo Center for Social Science Studies have presented plans for a tax proposal that would be fair and boost development. The proposal ?places emphasis on taxes that hit the high and medium income levels? and entail a 15% tax on interest earned on financial paper for deposits over RD$500,000. The highest strata of income in the population is earned by those receiving the most interest, which, in their opinion, is the justification for the tax. The groups also want a tax as small as even RD$1 on all financial transactions, such as credit card use, electronic transactions and banking done at the cashier?s window. Another idea is to tax the payments in kind that are received by high-salaried employees. The research centers say, ?This is the mechanism that is most used to reduce the taxable income for the highest salaried personnel.? According to their calculations, an adjustment of the net value of the corporate debts, indexed to inflation, would produce RD$2.356 billion. While the members rejected a broadening of the VAT tax-base, they were in favor of keeping the 1.5% minimum tax on anticipated gross sales, with certain adjustments made for inflation. Regarding the VAT tax (or ITBIS), the CIECA and the CES are in favor of raising the tax to 16% on current items covered by the tax, and adding a VAT of 10% on publicity. A walloping 25% tax on alcohol and tobaccos ?where the rich spend the most? is joined by a 10% tax on airline tickets, but the VAT on these tickets would be eliminated. Many other proposals, including higher tag fees for automobiles are contained in the tax proposal. http://www.elcaribecdn.com/articulo_multimedios.aspx?…