The Federation of Dominican Traders (FDC) has announced that they will not accept the application of ITBIS (VAT) of 16% on coffee, sugar, cooking oils and 50 other products that make up the basic foodstuffs for Dominican consumers. As a counter-proposal, the FDC suggests that the government begin a program that will allow greater efficiency in tax collection. All this comes at a time when the Chamber of Deputies will be looking at the formal governmental proposal for tax reforms needed to compensate for the removal of taxes and tariffs on incoming goods and services as a result of the approval of DR-CAFTA. Ivan Garcia, the president of the FDC, told Listin Diario reporters that an increase of 10% in corporate taxes (from 25% to 35%) would produce RD$7.0 billion for the government. Garcia also said that the government could raise another RD$2.0 billion by applying a 5% tax on interest earned on CDs and together with the increased corporate taxes, this would more than compensate the treasury for excluding basic foodstuffs from the VAT list. The FDC president also criticized the proposed tax on assets, which he considers just another step backwards while the government talks about the need to become competitive.