The Minister of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs asked the productive sectors that have been insisting on the need for a tax reform to be implemented, after President Luis Abinader withdrew the project that he submitted to the National Congress, to make their proposals, but It is advisable that it be before the end of this year.
Víctor -Ito-Bisonó clarified that his opinion is expressed on a personal level, since what exists officially is the position that the president expressed last Saturday, when he announced the withdrawal of the proposal, and what he ratified on Monday in the La Semanal press conference, where he stated that the government does not have another tax reform.
Ito Bisonó highlighted that the insistence of these sectors with the tax reform is because they know that it is needed, but it is also a sign that they are sure that this government is going to manage those resources as best as possible, if not one hundred percent correctly.
Interviewed by Héctor Herrera Cabral in the D’AGENDA program that is broadcast every Sunday on Telesistema Channel 11, and TV Quisqueya for the United States, the senior government official maintained that with more resources, economic growth and the well-being of the Dominican people are accelerated. .
Regarding the demand for a tax reform, he said that we will have to see what can happen, because you only have until the month of December if you want to submit it with the new 2025 budget, because otherwise the reform would not be for next year, but by 2026, and things like that are getting longer.
“So, what we have to do now is for those who have those ideas to make the proposal, there was a general condition and that is that everyone says, and now claims, that there has to be a reform, and I believe that that is a sign It is very clear that everyone knows that this government is going to manage these resources as best as possible, if not 100% correctly, and that in this way we accelerate our growth and well-being,” Bisonó insisted.
He reiterated that, “at this moment I do not have any information other than the position of the president of the republic that we all saw.”
“Now, knowing the openness of President Abinader, who has just demonstrated it, if they come with a proposal it may be reviewed, and seen, the country needs more resources to advance in the challenges that lie ahead, and if that is can build before December, I reiterate that it is a personal position, because the government has said that it has no further proposal, but I hope that the sectors involved, mature, who know what we are talking about, and who are demanding today, make the proposal “, suggested the Minister of Industry and Commerce.
He recalled that tax reform is a mandate of Law 1-12 that creates the National Development Strategy, which establishes periodic review of reforms and updating, and although the country is on the right track growing at 5%, I hope that was 6%, but if you have more income you can invest and accelerate that improvement.
He said that with more resources, more Metro lines can be built to improve transportation, and it was proposed to build a metropolitan train from the Olympic Center to Boca Chica, continue improving citizen security, and continue strengthening the protection of the border strip. .
With the resources that were intended to be raised, a part would go to the electricity sector, where investments need to be made in the transmission and distribution networks, also for the municipalities, but the most important thing is that the country does not continue to go into debt.
The Minister of Industry and Commerce rejects the government for not socializing with sectors the reform withdrawn by Abinader
Ito Bisonó, who is Minister of Industry and Commerce, rejects the criticism coming from some sectors in the sense that the government did not socialize the tax reform project that President Luis Abinader submitted, and that he later withdrew it due to the acid criticism that was made. against said initiative.
“What happens is that, first they talk individually, each one, then by union, then one is missing, another arrives, and until they are satisfied, and until they achieve their objectives, they are doing errands, we would all do the same, of course we would.” that was discussed, to give an example, on Friday of the week before last at ten in the morning there was a conversation with CONEP, at noon with AIRD, at night with ADOZONA, and the next day with different sectors,” the official said. .
Bisonó Haza added that, “weeks before, and I am mentioning in my radius of action, they were with me in my office, and they did so with the Minister of Finance.”
“Going round and round, but that’s how it is, they will always be doing due diligence until they achieve a balance, a balance, until the last moment, that is natural, and I can say that as far as I am concerned, those sectors knew about the reform ”, he insisted.
He specified that the president presented a reform, regardless of who is Keynesian, liberal or thinks in one way, but it was a reform, and discussions began.
“Because I participated and received my sectors, in the public and private, one meets at an event, at dinner, at whatever, and the president later received it, because I participated in the Palace with all the sectors, and “They were received in public hearings,” he pointed out.
Government will defend rice producers like a cat on its back before the EC tariff comes into forcero 2025
Two months before rice enters the country tariff-free, as contemplated by the Free Trade Agreement between the Dominican Republic, Central America and the United States (DR-CAFTA), the Dominican government maintains its decision to protect the national production, regardless of what is established in said agreement, stated the Minister of Industry and Commerce Ito Bisonó.
“Many times we think about the rice when it is on the plate, when we use the cutlery or the spoon to put it in our mouth, what is behind that rice, is there the one who plants it, the one who levels the land, the one who sells the fertilizer, the one who harvests it, the one who takes it off the farm in the truck, the one who repairs that means of transportation, that is, there is a production chain, which is not only about rice as a product, it is about the economy of the Dominican people, and the food security of the population,” the official clarified.
Bisonó Haza recalled that the Dominican people and the ten million visitors that the country receives each year are fed, and what is exported to the neighboring nation of Haiti.
The official said that it is regrettable that said agreement was signed in 2004 and in the following 20 years the arrangements that should have been made to adjust any impact were not made, and today an agreement cannot be modified because it is not only about the Dominican Republic. and the United States, there is also Central America, and it involves many countries, and if each country wanted to fix something that would be a disaster.
“So they are measures, surely, that the president is going to have to assume and he has already said very clearly that he is going to protect that chain that I just explained, which represents rice in the Dominican Republic and in the economy of the Dominican family, In other words, it represents food security, but it also represents security in the work economy of the most humble in the country, and that must be defended like a cat on its back,” hammered the Minister of Industry and Commerce.
Regarding the possibility that some countries that make up the Agreement could object to the Dominican government’s support for rice producers, Ito Bisonó said that the first thing to see is what the United States does with some of their products, because they are the main arbiters of the process, not to mention that they impose some things as they see fit.
“So, what is equal is not an advantage, from then on it would be something irrational for the United States to propose measures that are similar to those they adopt, because what that nation has are interests, not only do they protect their producers. , they finance them, in the end it can be a dumpin, because they are the big ones and the referees, but one must have a firm, dignified, and responsible position,” warned the senior official.
