The Tax Department (DGII) released the updated pay scales for income taxes yesterday. The new rules will allow a tax-free income of RD$26,334.75 per month. Any earnings over this amount will be taxable. This is a RD$2,147.84 increase over 2007. The DGII also reported that the Adjustment Multiplier for Inflation for the fiscal year ending 31 December 2007 will be 1.0888. This information fulfills the requirements of Article 327 of the Tax Code and Regulation 105 of the Income Tax Code. The new yearly incomes will be taxed at the following rates: Up to RD$316,017 is exempt; the money from RD$316,017 to RD$474,024 will be subject to a 15% tax; the money received between RD$474,024 and RD$658,367 will pay a fee of RD$23,701 plus 20% of the money over RD$474,024. Income over RD$658,367 will pay a fee of RD$60,570, plus 25% of the amount over RD$658,367.
The full tax table is available at www.dgii.gov.do. Go to the Publications section.
Central Electoral Board (JCE) president Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman is calling on the political parties to engage in "civil and polite" campaigning in the run up to the upcoming presidential elections. Castanos Guzman made this statement to reporters as he prepared to open the "official" campaign today, 16 January. The JCE chief magistrate said that he hoped that any highly provocative and heated exchanges between candidates would be tempered with moderation and civility as the campaign gets under way. Castanos Guzman expressed confidence that the people with the most to gain are precisely those candidates who observe proper manners and protocol during the campaign, since, in his words, "What the Dominican people are looking for is that the candidates for the presidency to tell them what they are going to do and how they are going to do it..."
The PLD now seeks to focus the public on corruption regarding the personal fortune of PRD presidential candidate Miguel Vargas Maldonado. In addition to questioning the alleged RD$800 million villa of the PRD candidate in Casa de Campo, the party is asking about the purchase by Vargas Maldonado of 577,000 square meters of protected area in Samana and subsequent sale of this for US$12 million. At the time, Vargas Maldonado was Minister of Public Works. The PLD is also asking Vargas to explain the deal whereby he purchased the Hotel Hispaniola for US$16.5 million to later sell it to a Spanish group for US$23 million. At the time of the purchase, Vargas Maldonado was also Minister of Public Works.
The PRD earlier sued the Fernandez administration for the controversial Sun Land US$130 million loan, pointing to corruption in the transaction. While President Leonel Fernandez has said the debt is private, not governmental, failure to meet payments has affected the country's capital markets risk rating. The case was taken to the Supreme Court that has remained mute on the issue. Luis Arthur writes in the El Caribe that the Supreme Court has not responded because the ruling party has threatened to use their majority in Congress to make a move that could send several of the elderly Supreme Court judges into retirement.
The number of voters in the Dominican Republic has increased. The Central Electoral Board (JCE) has announced that the electoral rolls now include 5,781,169 people, but the JCE also warned that this number might decrease after all the political parties go over the voter registration lists and make their observations. On Monday the lists were officially closed to new voter registrations. There are 144,000 absentees voters registered overseas, and there are 330,000 new voters in this election compared to the 2006 Municipal and Congressional elections.
If the Central Electoral Board approves all the requests and accepts the appeals, 37 political parties will be clamoring for the voters' attention this coming 16 May. In fact, 13 new requests for official recognition were received for today's session of the JCE. The agenda for today's meeting includes requests for consideration from ten parties that just barely got their applications into the JCE offices by the cut-off date last September, and three cases of appeals against previously rejected applications. One consideration is that all the parties would have to fit into a new voting sheet, since the current format does not have enough space. Parties applying for official recognition include the PSD, the PAN, the PRN, the FIN and the PNC.
The Dominican Council of Bishops has addressed a letter to the faithful that will be read in most Catholic churches next weekend. The letter commemorates the Day of Our Lady of High Grace (21 January), and reaffirms the bishops' position that corruption, political patronage and populism still persist in the Dominican Republic. The bishops deplore the fact that in the face of technological advances, a growing awareness of democratic processes and the need to preserve the environment, there is still so much injustice. The Pastoral Letter points out that far from receding, the problems are growing and taking on new forms like drug trafficking and consumption, violence and crime. The bishops also worry about the effects of the "accelerated trans-culturization that brings with it a loss of values that is destroying us as a people." The bishops also warn against globalization, the modern approach to marriage and the family, and the fast changes that are occurring in our society.
Despite a recent uproar that led to the withdrawal of similar pay increases in San Cristobal, city councilors in Santiago have now voted for considerable increases for themselves. El Caribe reports that Mayor Enrique Sued's pay went up from RD$75,000 to RD$180,000 a month, while deputy mayor Petroushka Munoz' wages were increased to RD$108,000. City councilors increased their remuneration from RD$44,000 to RD$100,000 plus other benefits. Other city workers got 30% wage increases. This comes out of the municipality's budget increase that was intended for city improvements, not employee remunerations. Mayor Sued said that the increases meant that there would be RD$12 million less for capital investments and other direct benefits to the community. The city councilors also determined that the remuneration will now be a salary, and not a per diem as in the past. The director of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce, Ivan Reynoso, described the increases as "monstrous".
Affiliates to the Family Health Insurance Plan (SFS), the government's attempt at universal health insurance, are once more threatened with loss of coverage. This time it is Resolution 147-07, issued by the Superintendent of Health that stipulated that the HMOs would pay doctors and clinics at the rates that were in force before the government's plan went into effect last September. This resolution has been challenged by the labor unions, but the clinics and doctors have said that they will abandon the system if the resolution is not respected. Last night, the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) debated the issue that increased doctor's fees and broadened the coverage of services. The unions are disputing the requirement that stipulates that in order to obtain the maximum benefit of the program in cases of catastrophic illnesses, the patient has to have been registered in the program for at least a year.
Only 1% of the doctors writing prescriptions for the Family Health Insurance program (SFS) are using the Single Forms required by the system. The doctors complain that the prescription forms ask for too much information and the format is too complicated. This information was given to the press by Dr. Waldo Ariel Suero, the president of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD). Because the use of the forms is obligatory in order to receive repayment for up to RD$3,000 in medicines per year, patients are not getting the benefits and the HMO providers are pocketing the money. According to Jose Cruz Pichardo of the HMO association (ADARS), the fault does not lie with the HMOs, but rather with the doctors who do not use the proper forms. Cruz Pichardo told Listin Diario reporters that in order to resolve this issue, the HMOs are authorizing the dispatch of medicines without requiring the Single Form, and they just call the doctors to confirm that the patient is insured. During a recent meeting at the Presidential Palace, a commission was given the task of redesigning the form in order to make it easier to use.
The National Council for Business (CONEP) has announced that it would prefer the government to sign a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund so that the economic resources of the state are not used for campaign purposes. A press release from Conep said that "Unfortunately, we all know how politics works in the Dominican Republic, and it is always better to have a guardian such as the IMF which helps a lot, and in which we, as business people, have a lot more confidence." Conep spokesperson Lisandro Macarrulla said that "the IMF would inspire more confidence with investors."
Hoy newspaper's Coctelera page two column speculates that the real reason behind the Haitian ban on chicken and eggs imports from the DR is the Haitian authorities' interest in getting concessions out of the Dominican government. The Haitian authorities know that the government is under pressure from the country's poultry exporters who are seeing millions of pesos worth of losses per day in unsold production. Coctelera points out that Haiti sent a mid-level agricultural official to the meeting with the Dominican minister of Agriculture. "The Haitians are savvy negotiators," comments Coctelera. Poultry exports were suspended after a number of cases of H5N2 avian flu were found in cockfighting roosters in the DR. The ban affects producers in Santiago, Mao and Moca. The Association of Poultry Producers of the North Region (Asopollon) said that Haiti is the leading buyer for Dominican chickens and eggs. As reported in El Dia, poultry exports were already down. The newspaper mentions official statistics indicating sales of US$8.6 million in 2006, and US$3.7 million for the first nine months of the year, prior to the avian flu cases.
The old bridge that connects Ramon Santana with San Pedro de Macoris collapsed and fell into the river when a large truck hauling sugar cane attempted to cross. The bridge, built in 1915, had been repaired two years ago. Some 17 small communities were cut off from San Pedro as a result of its collapse. Among them were Concho Primo, Lechuga, Dominica, Osaro, Don Lilon and Cabeza de Toro. San Pedro de Macoris Fire Chief, Ramon Aparle, and the engineer from the Public Works Department, Pelagio Hernandez offered help, and told reporters that brigades from the ministry would be repairing the bridge.
Dominican born authors Junot Diaz and Julia Alvarez are among the nominees for the US National Book Critics Circle awards that were announced yesterday. Junot Diaz received widespread acclaim for his novel "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" and Julia Alvarez was nominated for her biographical work "Once Upon a Quinceanera".
For the full story and a full list of nominees please go to: www.bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/...
The Tigres del Licey shut out the Gigantes del Cibao 7-0, and will thereby enjoy the home-field advantage for the final playoffs of the Dominican Winter League Championship. The Aguilas Cibaenas scored their second come-from-behind victory of the season, defeating the Estrellas Orientales 7-6 in the Tetelo Vargas Stadium in San Pedro de Macoris. The loss was the seventh in a row for the Estrellas who simply collapsed after leading the Round Robin tournament halfway through. The Estrellas went from 7-3 to 7-10, and finished out of the money.
The final standings:
| Team | Win | Lost | Percent | Games Behind |
| Tigres del Licey | 11 | 6 | .647 | -- |
| Aguilas Cibaenas | 10 | 7 | .588 | 1.0 |
| Estrellas Orientales | 7 | 10 | .412 | 4.0 |
| Gigantes del Cibao | 6 | 11 | .353 | 5.0 |
Estadio Quisqueya (Santo Domingo) - Aguilas Cibaenas vs. Tigres del Licey
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