Civil society organizations taking part in the Economic and Social Council (CES) say that the government could have RD$491 billion at its disposal without increasing taxes and would still be able to meet the much demanded 4% of GDP for the education sector. The organizations called for reductions in allocations to Congress, the Ministries of the Presidency, the Armed Forces, Foreign Relations, Public Works, and Industry and Commerce that are padded with wasteful government spending.
The entities say that the government could restructure its spending, making it more rational and efficient and thus increase public confidence, as reported in Hoy.
“For starters the government does not have to increase taxes to meet its social commitments. All it has to do is increase and improve the quality of social spending taking institutional measures to improve the quality of spending of public funds,” said Roque Feliz, spokesman for Centro Bono, a socio-economic think-tank, presenting the proposals on behalf of a group of social organizations at a press conference at the center.
The entities say that priorities need to be reordered and institutional measures applied to prevent the evasion and wasteful spending that have characterized the national budget in recent years. The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2012 ranked the Dominican government as tops in the world in wasteful government spending.
“The deficit is not the result of an abrupt reduction in taxes but the result of excessive spending for political patronage and electoral purposes, an example of the scant fiscal responsibility with which public funds are spent, putting at risk the sustainability of government finances,” said Feliz.
He proposed making the present state of the public finances transparent in order to reach a fiscal pact.
The Centro Bono spokesman said there was a need to establish a regime where consequences penalize fiscal irresponsibility, negligence and bad administration of the funds in the national budget.
The organizations presenting the proposal include Foro Ciudadano, Centro Bono, Copadeba, Ciudad Alternativa, Red Urbano Popular, Articulacion Campesina, Red de Organizaciones Juveniles, Foro Politico de Mujeres and Ce-Mujer.