Customs: "There is no turning back the disposition" to tax Internet purchases
Senate president says measure by the Director General of Customs violates the Constitution
Diario Libre
SANTO DOMINGO. The head of the Directorate General of Customs (DGA), Fernando Fernandez, said that they would not turn back the measure issued by the agency, which suggests collecting taxes on the Internet purchases for amounts of less than US$200, which have been exempted by decree.
In the meantime, representatives from diverse sectors of society, businessmen, legislators, and people who use the social networks all expressed their rejections of the measure.
But in spite of the rejection, the director of Customs was emphatic when he answered the question as to whether the measure could be revoked: "there is no turning back with this disposition. So we are calling on those businesses....which I do not know why they are protesting, because they are transporters of merchandise, and it seems as if they were stores. Their mission is to transport merchandise, I do not know why the protest. They should get prepared, because starting on the 15th Customs is going to exercise its function to regulate this type of commerce."
With regard as to whether the Decree 402-05 is valid in the face of the new measure, Fernandez responded: "I'll leave this to the courts; I have no reason to discuss this. What I will say is that Customs regulates commerce across frontiers, and this is its mission by law and what we are doing is avoiding that this evil grows uncontrollably, since it is now out of control.
He said in addition that with this measure they are not violating the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, Central America and the Dominican Republic known as DR-CAFTA. "I am talking that through this way, the state will lose this year, conservatively, RD$5.6 billion, and then this is growing five times quicker than the economy. This is out of control," he said.
When he was asked if the DGA would be asking for the annulment of the decree that exempts Internet purchases of less than US$200, he said: "Let's leave it there. This is not a problem for legal discussion, what is happening here is a real problem of the Dominican economy, which is threatened by a type of business that sooner or later is going to create a situation that will be completely out of our control. Right now it is not controlled, so Customs has to find the way to control it."
Finjus
In the meantime, the executive vice-president of the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus), Servio Tulio Castaños Guzman, said that according to the principle of hierarchy in public administration a resolution cannot modify a presidential decree.
In addition, he said that given a situation such as the one that has presented itself after the Customs disposition, President Danilo Medina should say something, since the Customs director is an employee of his administration.
Castaños said that a government official cannot change the rules all of a sudden, without submitting it to a debate between different sectors.
"As a Foundation, what we propose is that before implementing the measures, they be submitted to what is established in article 21 of the Law of Free Access to Information, and that they be discussed, burst the extent, and whether effectively the Customs director has the authority, by means of a resolution, to modify a decree by the President," he noted.
For his part, the merchant Jose Luis Corripio (Pepin) said that they should not permit businesses that pay taxes to be at a disadvantage in the face of the volumes of imports that they are making through couriers, which he said, amount to RD$20 billion.
A violation of the Constitution
The Senate president, Reionaldo Pared Perez, also rejected the DGA measure, and warned that it violated the Constitution.
He said that the decision would seriously affect the sectors of the middle class.
"This measure violates the Constitution, because only the Congress of the Republic is authorized to establish or eliminate tax measures," he said.
Explosion on the social networks
The DGA announcement to tax Internet purchases of less than US$200 generated the rejection of a sector of customers that goes from those that are convening a protest for 8 August, consisting of stripping naked in the Lira Park on Abraham Lincoln Avenue, in the capital, to more refined protests.
The convocation is circulating on Twitter at #UNETEYDESNUDATE.
Customs destroys 2000 cases of whiskey
The director general of Customs offered his statements after taking part in the destruction of 2,000 cases of whiskey and other beverages, which were seized at the time in which they were brought into the national territory as contraband, and represented a value of approximately RD$11.7 million.
The institution reported that this was the second destruction of alcoholic beverages that they have carried out in less than a month. The first was of 800 cases for a value of RD$7.4 million.
In the meantime, representatives from diverse sectors of society, businessmen, legislators, and people who use the social networks all expressed their rejections of the measure.
But in spite of the rejection, the director of Customs was emphatic when he answered the question as to whether the measure could be revoked: "there is no turning back with this disposition. So we are calling on those businesses....which I do not know why they are protesting, because they are transporters of merchandise, and it seems as if they were stores. Their mission is to transport merchandise, I do not know why the protest. They should get prepared, because starting on the 15th Customs is going to exercise its function to regulate this type of commerce."
With regard as to whether the Decree 402-05 is valid in the face of the new measure, Fernandez responded: "I'll leave this to the courts; I have no reason to discuss this. What I will say is that Customs regulates commerce across frontiers, and this is its mission by law and what we are doing is avoiding that this evil grows uncontrollably, since it is now out of control.
He said in addition that with this measure they are not violating the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, Central America and the Dominican Republic known as DR-CAFTA. "I am talking that through this way, the state will lose this year, conservatively, RD$5.6 billion, and then this is growing five times quicker than the economy. This is out of control," he said.
When he was asked if the DGA would be asking for the annulment of the decree that exempts Internet purchases of less than US$200, he said: "Let's leave it there. This is not a problem for legal discussion, what is happening here is a real problem of the Dominican economy, which is threatened by a type of business that sooner or later is going to create a situation that will be completely out of our control. Right now it is not controlled, so Customs has to find the way to control it."
Finjus
In the meantime, the executive vice-president of the Institutionalism and Justice Foundation (Finjus), Servio Tulio Castaños Guzman, said that according to the principle of hierarchy in public administration a resolution cannot modify a presidential decree.
In addition, he said that given a situation such as the one that has presented itself after the Customs disposition, President Danilo Medina should say something, since the Customs director is an employee of his administration.
Castaños said that a government official cannot change the rules all of a sudden, without submitting it to a debate between different sectors.
"As a Foundation, what we propose is that before implementing the measures, they be submitted to what is established in article 21 of the Law of Free Access to Information, and that they be discussed, burst the extent, and whether effectively the Customs director has the authority, by means of a resolution, to modify a decree by the President," he noted.
For his part, the merchant Jose Luis Corripio (Pepin) said that they should not permit businesses that pay taxes to be at a disadvantage in the face of the volumes of imports that they are making through couriers, which he said, amount to RD$20 billion.
A violation of the Constitution
The Senate president, Reionaldo Pared Perez, also rejected the DGA measure, and warned that it violated the Constitution.
He said that the decision would seriously affect the sectors of the middle class.
"This measure violates the Constitution, because only the Congress of the Republic is authorized to establish or eliminate tax measures," he said.
Explosion on the social networks
The DGA announcement to tax Internet purchases of less than US$200 generated the rejection of a sector of customers that goes from those that are convening a protest for 8 August, consisting of stripping naked in the Lira Park on Abraham Lincoln Avenue, in the capital, to more refined protests.
The convocation is circulating on Twitter at #UNETEYDESNUDATE.
Customs destroys 2000 cases of whiskey
The director general of Customs offered his statements after taking part in the destruction of 2,000 cases of whiskey and other beverages, which were seized at the time in which they were brought into the national territory as contraband, and represented a value of approximately RD$11.7 million.
The institution reported that this was the second destruction of alcoholic beverages that they have carried out in less than a month. The first was of 800 cases for a value of RD$7.4 million.
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