Diario Libre reports that the head of FINJUS, the Institutionalization and Justice Foundation, says the 10-percent surcharge on at least half of all Dominican imports, as ordered by Decree 139-03, violates the Constitution.
Carlos Salcedo, director of the foundation, explains that the Executive Branch does not have the authority to establish taxes, a power held exclusively by Congress.
In a related story appearing on the front page of the Listin Diario, the spokesmen of the two major opposition parties, the PRSC and the PLD, reminded the President that he cannot create new taxes by decree. Victor Bisono of the PRSC and Julio Cesar Valentin of the PLD agreed on the fact that new taxes ?must? go through Congress.