Dominican Republic rebuffs The Economist on illicit trade

Santo Domingo.- The Finance Ministry on Mon. rebuked the report published by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on the Global Environment Index of Illicit Trade in the Dominican Republic, after noting that it doesn’t take into account key data that show the efforts it says are being made to combat smuggling, counterfeiting, contraband and tax fraud.

“On behalf of the Dominican Government, the governing body of public finances assured that there are updated figures that contradict the content of the report, which it considered “clearly biased and incomplete,” the Ministry said

In a rebuttal sent to The Economist, the institution stresses the joint collections of taxes on the consumption of goods such as the tariff, tax ITBIS or VAT on alcohol, tobacco and selective taxes to hydrocarbons, “that have improved by 19.1%, above the growth of the economy, thanks to the decisions taken by the general directorates of Customs and Internal Taxes.”

“During the period 2013 to 2017, the breach of the Income Tax of Legal Entities, as a percentage of GDP, decreased from 64.7% to 61.9%, the breach of Income Tax for Individuals from 63.1% to 57.1% and ITBIS or VAT fell from 44.5% in 2014 to 43.6% in 2017,” adds the Finance Ministry.