"We are being ripped off." That's an almost universal cry within the Haitian immigrant community in New York now that the Creole-speaking community is being forced to pay an extra fee to remit funds to relatives in the Western Hemisphere.

The Michel Martelly Administration has imposed a $1.50 tax on remittances to Haiti and immigrants are up in arms over it, fearing that the new President plans to take advantage of a community that send more than $1 billion to households every year to keep them afloat.

"People feel that additional fee is unfair and unreasonable," said Fuljens Henry, assistant executive director of the Haitian Centers Council, an umbrella body in Brooklyn which brings together the disparate community services organizations that serve tens of thousands of Haitians in the City. "There is a general feeling among their clients that they are being taken advantage of financially, being ripped off by the new government. They cannot understand why the fee is being imposed in the first place and the reaction is one of outrage. They see it as a first step towards taxing them even more."

Ricot Dupuy, general manager of Radio Soleil, perhaps the most popular Haitian station in the City, described the community as being in an uproar over the fee and how it was introduced. "There was no prior warning, no explanation by the new president and his administration," said Dupuy. "To callers who are expressing their outrage on our station, it is an indication of arrogance of the new president. It's also a move of questionable legality because there is no legislative approval for the imposition of what amounts to taxes.

"People have some vague notion that the money would be used on education and other social services, but the administration hasn't said much.

"This looks like the same old problems that have confronted the country for years.

"What's interesting about it is that there would have been considerable support for the idea if it was done properly and legally," he added.

"Many callers believe the idea itself is a good one if there are effective controls on the collection and the expenditure. But there is nothing on which they can hang their approval. It's clear that as it stands now, the vast majority of people oppose it."

But that's only a part of the story. Haitian immigrants complain that instead of $1.50, some of the companies remitting money from members of the Diaspora are charging $2 without an explanation for the extra funds. As if that wasn't bad enough, the companies in Haiti are charging recipients of the remittances an extra .50 cents before they can receive the funds from their relatives.

In effect, many Haitians are paying $4 extra to send money.

"My relatives in Haiti were told that they must pay the extra 50 cents because the company paying the remittances claims they don't have 50 cents in coins to give those persons who simply have two one-dollar bills," said Michel Cirrilus, who lives in Brooklyn. "So, we are paying two dollars in New York, and two dollars in Haiti, and we still don't know about its legality. There is something wrong with this entire scheme and if it's an indication of what is ahead of us under the new president, then God help us."

The Haitian Diaspora remits more than $1 billion a year to relatives, and the amount is the country's largest single source of foreign exchange.

"The fact its largest sources of foreign exchange should have informed the government that the plan should have been implemented with people's full knowledge," said Dupuy. "The government in Port-au-Prince owes it to the people wherever they are to explain why the fee and how it would be collected. The long-standing problem in Haiti is a lack of transparency that fuels corruption, and the new administration should be sensitive to any suggestion that it's business as usual. That would prevent us from moving forward."

Martelly, who visited Florida's Little Haiti community over the past weekend, is facing mounting criticisms in the Diaspora over his inability to put a government in place; the remittance tax; and what many interpret as his lukewarm support for a constitutional change that would give Haitians abroad a vote in presidential elections at home. On the failure of the Senate to approve his nomination of Daniel-Gerara Rouzier as the next Prime Minister, he said in Florida that despite the setback, Haiti "is open for business." In addition, while expressing disappointment over the vote, he vowed to abide by it. On the question of the constitutional change to permit recognition of dual nationality, the President said that he wanted to see constitutional change approved to permit the Diaspora to vote.

He also appealed to Haitians abroad to support their country either by returning home to put their skills at its disposal or by continuing to remit funds to help their relatives.

"Return home and help Haiti," he said in Florida.