Santo Domingo.- After 5 days of deliberation, a bicameral congressional fee authorized the 2026 price range report Wednesday, omitting a long-standing provision for annual wage indexing, which critics argue undermines employees’ buying energy. The tax code, unchanged since 1992, has required salaries to be adjusted for inflation, a measure repeatedly postponed every year, now as soon as once more deferred by the fee.

Francisco Javier Paulino, the fee’s president, confirmed that the present price range invoice contains an article pausing the necessary dialogue on wage indexing. Vice-Chair Senator Pedro Tineo added that no political faction formally launched a movement on the problem through the conferences, ensuing within the fee passing the report by majority vote. Regardless of vocal calls for from the opposition in public statements, the subject was not mentioned substantively amongst legislators.

Opposition lawmakers, together with PLD deputy Charlie Mariotti, instantly protested, with Mariotti vowing to problem the omission through the full chamber debates. He warned they might file a constitutional problem in opposition to the price range legislation, alleging that excluding wage indexing violates employees’ rights and the established tax code. In the meantime, Senator Edward Espiritusanto of Fuerza del Pueblo criticized the price range’s concentrate on present spending and labeled its funding element inadequate, promising his get together may even oppose approval.

With the draft price range totaling RD$1.744 trillion, equal to about 20.1% of GDP, now headed to votes in each the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the true take a look at lies forward. The exclusion of wage indexing might ignite a broader debate on financial equity and authorized compliance, probably reshaping public belief in fiscal governance.