Dominguez upbeat on tax reforms’ OK
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2019 16:24:11 +0000
THE Department of Finance (DoF) remains hopeful on the passage of the remaining tax-reform proposals of the government, especially with a new set of lawmakers at the soon-to-open 18th Congress.
“We look forward to the passage of the remaining tranches of the comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP) to further secure our fiscal stability,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd told members of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) during their joint general membership meeting in Makati City on Friday.
The still-to-be-approved CTRP packages are: Package 1B, which seeks to reform the Motor Vehicle Users’ Charge; Package 2, which calls for the reduction of corporate income tax from 30 percent to 20 percent and streamlining of fiscal incentives; Package 2 Plus, which proposes additional excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products, as well as increase the government’s share from mining; Package 3, which covers reforms in property valuation; and Package 4, which proposes the rationalization of capital income tax.
Dominguez believes that the clean sweep by administration-backed candidates in last month’s midterm elections illustrates the desire of Filipinos for President Rodrigo Duterte to continue his pragmatic program of reforms that he has managed to implement during the first half of his term with his “incomparable political will” and the broad public support he enjoys.
Moving on, he said the government hoped to build on the achievements the President’s administration made in the past three years.
“We are particularly proud of the legislative achievements of the past three years,” the Finance chief said, citing as an example the first tranche of the CTRP — Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Act — that Mr. Duterte signed in December 2017 and implemented at the start of 2018.
According to him, Train not only produced a more reliable revenue stream for the government, but also put more money into the pockets of Filipinos.
Besides the tax reforms, Dominguez said other notable reforms were RA 11203 or the Philippine Rice Tariffication Act; consolidating the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao;
RA 11055 or the Philippine Identification System Act, better known as the national ID law; and RA 11032 or Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act.
“And while the President signed these measures into law, he also vetoed several measures not aligned with our public investment priorities or detrimental to our fiscal position,” he added.
The Finance secretary pointed out that, in the last three years, the 17th Congress proposed 147 bills that collectively would either erode revenues by P178 billion or mandatorily add P799 billion to the budget, totaling P977 billion — all of which the government cannot afford.
“While some bills seek to benefit some sectors, like farmers or a province, they take away resources from millions of other poor and jobless people who also deserve our help,” he said.
Dominguez also noted the 31 bills proposing the creation of more tax-free freeports or ecozones, saying there were already 546 of these as of 2017, which are all contributing to massive leakages.
“We do not think this is how we should do policy — that is, create more tax-free zones or sectors, and ask other Filipinos to pay for these incentives,” he added. “For this reason, the President rejected several of these bills.”
The post Dominguez upbeat on tax reforms’ OK appeared first on The Manila Times Online.