The latest attempt to find a way of making up the government’s RD$650-million fiscal deficit is a proposal from Senator Ramiro Espina (PRD, Samana) currently being studied by the Senate Finance Commitee. It suggests an increase of RD$3.50 on premium gasoline and RD$1.75 on regular. The proposal also includes the imposition of a one-time 1% charge on all savings accounts and a 10% tax on interest payments on deposits. Tobacco is also included on the list – an additional tax of RD$0.50 would be charged per cigarette. Hoy newspaper’s main editorial focuses on fiscal reform, saying that although all agree it has been a long time in coming, neither the government nor the business sector is clear about its objectives. There are many reasons for the budgetary deficit in addition to the external debt and the Baninter void, continues the writer, including the inflated government payroll. Another aspect is the way in which taxes are often imposed, without anticipating the economic, social, political and legal consequences, as happened recently in the case of the withdrawn 10% tax on exports and the doubling of the exchange rate commission charge. “What needs to be reformed along with the fiscal system is the attitude and style of resource management.”