Former Central Bank governor and Reformist party official, Luis Toral has said that he hopes that the Dominican Congress would examine the proposed tax reform package recently sent to Congress, very carefully. It is Toral’s opinion that it may not be necessary for the government to impose a new tax package on the population. According to Toral, the tax package is not a “national necessity” as said by President Fernandez, but rather it is an “instrument by which the government can continue spending the money it takes from the people through the high taxes that they are paying.” The politician suggested that the senators and deputies look at the figures generated by the government itself, through the Central Bank, the Director General of Customs and the Internal Revenue Service, and see if it is really true that there will be a RD$31 billion shortfall as a result of DR-CAFTA.
Toral said that he could prove that the government had an RD$88 billion surplus that would make it unnecessary to impose new taxes. Ever since the government announced its intention to introduce new tax reforms, Toral has been a highly visible critic of the proposals, insisting that there is a large surplus available to the government.