The Permanent Commission of Dominicans Abroad in the Chamber of Deputies, thanked the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, for his willingness in favor of the Diaspora to eliminate the payment of the US$10.00 tax on airline tickets in order to travel to their country, among other measures.
“Since October 19, 2015 we submitted before the Chamber of Deputies a bill with the purpose of reducing the ITBIS and the other taxes foreseen in the price of the air ticket for the exclusive benefit of all Dominicans and we thank God that a president who is conscious and sensitive to the needs of his countrymen as Luis Abinader is arrived, so that now this becomes a reality,” highlighted Adelis Olivares Ortega, president of the Commission.
He explained that the tourist card has been a tax applied erroneously to Dominicans living abroad by Law 199 of 1966 which established the charge of US$10 to be able to enter the Dominican Republic, but that now he is confident that it will finally be eliminated.
“President Abinader recognized that this is an injustice for the diaspora that keeps contributing to the economy, so we are sure that he would initiate the corresponding legal proceedings to reduce and eliminate the taxes that Dominicans must pay on airline tickets and tourist card to travel to the Dominican Republic,” she said.
The overseas legislator considered that the Dominican community abroad is anxious to invest and travel more frequently to the land where they were born and that their children born outside the country can know it, for which she valued the measure of the president as a stimulus for the Creoles living not only in the United States, but in other parts of the world.
He said that in this time of pandemic, the remittances sent by Dominicans have contributed to alleviate the needs of their relatives who remain in the Caribbean nation, as well as have strengthened the economy in general.
He understands that this measure should benefit everyone, including Dominican nationals with resident status, or Dominicans of origin, nationalized in other countries and that the sales agent as withholding agent simply demand the documentation required to qualify Dominicans residing abroad.
“We never falter, insistently every year since 2015 we request this measure in favor of the diaspora and on May 28, 2018 we proposed to the then president of the Chamber of Deputies Ruben Maldonado to issue a resolution requesting the president of that time, Danilo Medina, to withdraw the $10 charge to Dominicans on their flights, however, now is that we have a ruler who gives importance not only to the Creoles of the country but also to those who for one reason or another have settled abroad,” he said.
Regarding the construction of a monument to the Dominican Diaspora proposed by President Abinader, Congresswoman Adelis Olivares recalled that on February 10, 2015 she presented a draft resolution requesting the President of the Republic on duty to leave without effect the transfer of the Boulevard of 27 de Febrero Avenue (between Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill Avenues) to the National District City Hall and declare it as Boulevard of the Dominican Resident Abroad.
He said that this would be the appropriate moment for this just recognition of the contributions of the Dominican Diaspora and that its administration be assigned to the National Council for Dominican Communities Abroad (CONDEX).
