Gov. is blind to harm in Customs raw materials tax: Industries

Santo Domingo.- Dominican Republic IndustriesAssociation (AIRD) vice president Circe Almanzar on Monday said the government doesn’tseem to weigh the consequences of Customs collecting 50% of the ITBIS (VAT) taxin on raw materials and machinery for manufacturing.

However she thanked the Finance Ministry for respondingto the measure’s unanimous rejection by business associations in addition tothe AIRD.

Almanzar said the industrial sector expects ameeting with the tax authorities as soon as possible, to achieve an expeditiousprocedure which averts hurting their competitiveness.

She noted that the reimbursement mechanismcited by the Treasury in an ad has long been out of use, because when it was ineffect, to get the corresponding reimbursement took a long time, even years, "whichseverely affected competitiveness of the companies."

"We urgently need to meet and clearly establishthe mechanism to follow. We sincerely hope that this will be resolved favorablyfor domestic production. For the industrialists to foresee is part of theconfidence, of the security that the conditions to do business will not varynegatively," the business leader said

Almanzar said it’s regrettable that whentalking about exports, international competition isn’t taken into account. "Theproblem is that the cost of financial capital is borne by industrialists whichare forced to compete both in the domestic market and abroad, with foreignproducts that are uncharged and often subsidized."