Taken from Listín Diario
SANTO DOMINGO- The final price of fuels in the Dominican Republic is the result of two types of taxes applied by the Government and the profits of distributors, retailers and transporters, whose costs are grouped into what are called marketing margins.
The greatest weight is the tax established in the fuel law (112-00), followed by the tax of the 2006 tax rectification law 495-06 (tax reform).
In terms of marketing margins, the largest profits go to retailers, followed by distributors, and finally carriers.
This analysis is based on the notice from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and SMEs (MICM) corresponding to the week of Saturday, February 5th to 11th, published on Sunday by economist Henri Hebrard on his Twitter account.
How much does the consumer pay?
To give you an idea, this week premium gasoline consumers are paying RD$71.85 for the tax established in law 112-00; RD$24.32 for the levy of law 495-06; RD$14.42 in profits to distributors; RD$22.49 to retailers and RD$5.68 for transportation commissions.
This week, those who buy premium gasoline are paying a total of RD$138.76 in taxes and marketing margins. Those who use regular gasoline pay RD$128.14.
The taxes on the premium product total RD$96.17 and on the regular product RD$87.17, representing 33.44% and 32.23% of the final price, respectively. Marketing margin costs total RD$42.59 and RD$40.97, respectively.
In the case of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), the taxes for this week amount to RD$16.39, plus RD$28.02 in margins and commissions, which in total add up to RD$44.41.
Without those additional costs, the initial price of premium gasoline is RD$152.04, regular gasoline is RD$145.86, and LPG is RD$102.39.
These costs, with their respective weekly variations and by type of fuel, are what consumers pay each week, except for LPG, which does not pay the tax of law 112.00.
Ten pesos more
The expert also showed that in the case of premium gasoline, the subtotal of taxes went from RD$86.21 in 2013 to RD$96.18 in 2022, for an increase of RD$9.97.
The economist pointed out that so far in February, premium gasoline opened with an increase of 3.24%, going from RD$270.36 in December 2021 to RD$286.15 this month, a variation of RD$15.79.
The regular price also registered a “strong increase” of 2.96%, according to Hebrard, going from RD$255.68 to RD$269.05, for an increase of RD$13.37.
The economist noted that other fuels have also seen sharp increases and their prices are well above the average for the same month in 2021.
