GROSS CUSTOMS COLLECTIONS
First Modus Vivendi year, April 1, 1905, to March 31, 1906 ……………………………………………. $2,502,154.31 Second Modus Vivendi year, April 1,1906, to March 31, 1907 ……………………………………………. $3,181,763.48 Four months' period, April 1, 1907, to July 31, 1907 (termination of Modus Vivendi)…………………. $1,161,426.61 First convention year, Aug. 1, 1907 to July 31, 1908 ……………………………………………. $3,469,110.69 Second convention year, Aug. 1, 1908 to July 1909 ……………………………………………. $3,359,389.71 Third convention year, Aug. 1, 1909 to July 1910 ……………………………………………. $2,876,976.17 Fourth convention year, Aug. 1, 1910 to July 1911 ……………………………………………. $3,433,738.92 Fifth convention year, Aug. 1, 1911 to July 1912 ……………………………………………. $3,645,974.79 Sixth convention year, Aug. 1, 1912 to July 1913 ……………………………………………. $4,109,294.12 Seventh convention year, Aug. 1, 1913 to July 1914 ……………………………………………. $3,462,163.66 Five months' period, Aug. 1, 1914 to Dec. 31, 1914 ……………………………………………. $1,209,555.54 Ninth fiscal period, Jan. 1, 1915 to Dec. 31, 1915 ……………………………………………. $3,882,048.40 Tenth fiscal period, Jan. 1, 1916 to Dec. 31, 1916 …………………………………………… $4,035,355.43 Eleventh fiscal period, Jan. 1, 1917 to Dec. 31, 1917 …………………………………………… $5,329,574.20
With regard to port dues, the Dominican government was long bound by a concession made to the Clyde line in 1878. Upon the redemption of this concession the port dues were in 1908 reduced to their present figure.
An impost on alcohols was established in 1905, and ought to become an important source of revenue. The law is crude in that it taxes the distillation rather than the sale of alcohol and does not sufficiently guard against fraud. The receipts, which in the beginning were quite promising, fell off strangely in late years.
The most recent sources of revenue are the Central Dominican Railway, from Puerto Plata to Santiago, acquired from the San Domingo Improvement Company under the debt settlement in 1908; the Moca extension of the railroad, finished by the government in 1910; and the wharves acquired by the redemption of the various port concessions. These properties at first gave the government a handsome revenue, which later diminished in a suspicious manner.
The budget of the Republic kept pace with the growth of income, but the appropriations were practically all for personnel, while public works continued to be neglected and no provision was made for future contingencies or the establishment of a reserve fund. The annual budget enacted to become effective July 1, 1916, may be summarized as follows;
ESTIMATED RECEIPTS
Custom-houses:
Import duties $3,500,000
Port dues 80,000
Export duties 220,000
Subtotal: $3,800,000