All types of fuel are competing with VAT (ITBIS) as the Dominican fiscal system’s top earner. After some initial embarrassment, much as occurred in the 80s when VAT was first introduced, fuel taxes are now part of the “fiscal style” as they are increased during every tax revision legislation. Legislators, according to Listin Diario, have put aside any fears of public retribution and have made fuel taxes an important source of revenue for the government coffers. Although petroleum products have long been subject to taxation, it was not until Law 112-00 that established a per-gallon fee of RD$18 pesos for premium, RD$15 for regular, and RD$5 for regular diesel. Today, those same taxes are RD$40.97, RD$34.14 and RD$11.38 respectively. Not only that, but the latest revision of the tax codes, while not actually raising these taxes, did establish an ad valorum tax of RD$9.21 per gallon of premium, RD$8.57 for regular and RD$8.19 for diesel. Today, 35.61% of the price of a gallon of gasoline goes to taxes. In the first two months of the year, the ad valorum taxes alone produced RD$500 million for the coffers. And, for 2006, up to 27 March, the National Treasury, whose main source of money is fuel tax, had received RD$4.473 billion. Not bad for a poor country.