The responses regarding the different proposals on tax reform continue to make news today. Esteban Delgado, writing for the Diario Libre, says that the proposals for tax reform include the substitution of the tax on bank transactions with a tax on the interest generated by savings accounts. Delgado says that this would hurt individual’s pockets while releasing merchants from some taxation. The current tax on checks is generating an estimated RD$3.5 billion per year. The commercial sector and banks pay 80% of this. However, an eventual 15% tax on income derived from savings accounts would directly affect the three to four million savings accounts on normal citizens who would be hit at a time when lower interest rates are already affecting their income.
Ernesto Vilalta, the president of the Herrera Industrial Association, proposed the incorporation of a pact, within the tax legislation, by which the business sector is obliged to lower prices in the same proportion as the costs are lowered. CONEP has also talked, internally, about the effects of a tax on savings accounts, especially considering that 80% of savings accounts are held by individuals and only 20% by corporations.