As expected, the opposition slams ex president’s view on tax hole

Santo Domingo.- As expected, Dominican Republic’s major opposition party (PRD) railed against president Leonel Fernandez’s statements Tuesday night that the country’s tax hole and that the burden is 13%, affirming that it averaged 21% during his term, 2008 to 2012.

The PRD Economic Commission said Fernandez manipulated statistics during his televised speech in which he blamed the country’s fiscal deficit on the tax burden, comparing Dominican Republic with developed nations, but failed to mention per capita income, which Commission president Arturo Martinez Moya notes that it’s much lower here.

In a press conference the PRD leader also denied that the RD$49.0 billion transfer to the Central Bank stemmed from the 2003 banking crisis and instead attributed it o the debt accumulated during Fernández’s administrations, from 2005 to 2012 .

Another economist

Miguel Ceara Hatton, an economist also linked to the PRD, accused Fernandez of violating the Constitution, and the laws of the Treasury, the Budget, Government Purchases and Credit, during his previous administration n, with the aggravation of the overvalued public works.

Ceara questioned Fernandez’s assertion that the government’s current deficit of RD$187.0 billion isn’t the result of fraud or crime during the past administration.

The economist added that a 40% jump in public spending should spark much more dynamics and greater economy impact. "Where did that money go? Is it possible to inject 150 billion pesos to the economy in a single shot, and isn’t felt?"