Teófilo (Quico) Tabar is throwing in the towel, saying he has been unable to regularize the betting sector. In an op-ed in Hoy newspaper, he writes of how persons of power in the sector have refused to comply with the regularization requirements that require the betting shops’ owners to declare their financial situation in a sworn statement. For years, betting shops have sprawled. Few pay taxes and most have minimum if any government controls. Several legislators are linked to betting shop businesses.
In the article he says he is only the coordinator and cannot do more. “To publicly set conditions for the compliance of paying taxes because the government does not guarantee rights demanded, is to disregard their duties and at the same time condemn themselves in front of society. But well. I have only been the coordinator. They are old enough and it seems that having earned money gives them a license to do whatever they want. We wanted to help them decently. We wanted to help them decently and amicably, but they reject institutional methods,” he states in the op-ed article.
Tabar says he has made recommendations and presented the case to President Luis Abinader. “Those who pull the strings will look for any excuse or subterfuge to maintain the situation and not regularize. Yesterday one, today another and tomorrow who knows. One formula recommended by experts was to terminate all contracts with legal weaknesses and close all draws until they reach an agreement. But we proposed this to the President, who wants peace and solutions, viable alternatives for the good of all. Hopefully, they can be implemented,” he writes.
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26 May 2022