An editorial in Hoy today, Friday 19 April makes a call for an end to taxation on telecommunications. The Chamber of Deputies has announced a bill that would impose an additional RD$20 on every fixed phone line bill, both fixed lines and mobiles. The tax would finance the National Emergency System (911 hotline). The Hoy editorialist says that the service cannot bear any more taxes.
The director of the Consumer Rights Foundation (Fundecom), Alfonsina Cuesta said she doesn’t understand why legislators continue to abuse the population or why users need to pay for a service that the government should provide.
PLD deputy Tulio Jimenez opposes the new tax. He said that the DR does not have a fleet of ambulances, the technological platform or trained personnel to make the system work. Moreover, he said that the population has not yet recovered from the tax increase at the start of the year. The president of the Chamber of Deputies Interior and Police Commission Elpidio Baez said the commission would issue a favorable opinion on the RD$20 tax on Tuesday, 23 April.
Taxation on the telecom bills already include 30% tax, that includes 18% ITBIS, 10% to DGII and 2% to the Telecommunications Development Fund (FDT).
http://hoy.com.do/editorial/2013/4/18/476494/No-mas-carga-a-la-telefonia