Several of the nation’s leading business organizations published a communiqué today rejecting the government’s plan to retroactively collect a 1.5% tax on gross sales made last year. The tax went into effect in January 2001. The business groups say the government’s plan violates the Dominican Constitution which prohibits the retroactivity of the application of laws. The government wants to retroactively apply the law to companies whose fiscal year end is not the usual 31 December date. The list of organizations that object the Tax Department (DGII) ruling include: Association of Young Businessmen (ANJE), Association of Industries of the DR (AIRD), American Chamber of Commerce, National Organizaton of Shopping Centers (ONEC), Association of Merchants and Industrialists of Santiago (ACIS), Association of Industrialists of Santiago (AIREN0), Federation of Industrial Associations (FAI), among others.
