DOF: Enough time left to approve Package 2
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2019 16:18:40 +0000
THE Finance department remains hopeful that legislators will approve a second package of tax reforms before the next Congress takes office in July.
“The second package is a big incentive for the people. If you think about it that way, they should be able to pass it in a flash,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd told reporters last week.
Package 2 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program calls for the reduction of corporate income tax reduction and streamlining of fiscal incentives. The House of Representatives approved its version of the package—the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (Trabaho) bill—in September but the Senate version remains pending at the committee level.
Dominguez noted that the outgoing 17th Congress still had time to pass the bill despite its third and final session set to be interrupted by midterm elections.
“Well, there are two more periods … four weeks and then we have another period after the election which is another four weeks more or less. So we have eight weeks,” he said.
Legislators returned to work on Monday, January 14, after a holiday break but will again take a break beginning February 9 for the elections. Session will resume May 20 and adjourn sine die on June 7.
Any measures not approved by then will have to start from square one under the 18th Congress, whose first regular session starts July 22.
The post DOF: Enough time left to approve Package 2 appeared first on The Manila Times Online.