Senators, meeting in a closed-door caucus on Wednesday, pushed plans to convene the Senate as a “Committee of the Whole” to conduct closer scrutiny of the proposed P900-billion tax-reform package.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III said he and Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III proposed the Committee of the Whole alternative to take over the Ways and Means Committee, so all senators can participate in crafting the tax package aiming to raise over P900 billion in revenue.
“We will convene a Committee of the Whole so all concerns will be brought up and addressed,” Sotto said.
This developed as the Senate Ways and Means Committee, eyeing a September deadline, started on Wednesday a series of public hearings to scrutinize the multibillion-peso tax-reform package endorsed by the Malacañang to bankroll various projects lined up by the Duterte administration.
Under scrutiny by the committee chaired by Sen. Juan Edgardo M. Angara are various administrative reforms embodied in House Bill 5636, also known as Tax Reform for Acceleration for Acceleration and Inclusion.
These include: mandatory fuel marking and monitoring system to curb oil smuggling; mandatory issuance of electronic receipts for transactions above P25; mandatory interconnection of large and medium firms through the use of cash register machine/point-of-sale machine of all establishments with the Bureau of Internal Revenues (for real-time reporting of sales and purchase data); mandatory use of Global Positioning System locks when transporting cargo from ports to economic zones and free ports; and relaxation of bank-secrecy laws for fraud cases.
Angara said he is looking to wrap up a committee report endorsing the tax package for plenary debates in the Senate by September. He intends to conduct public hearings on the money measure “twice a week, if necessary”.
“Although that may be difficult, I think, we are acceding to President Duterte’s request for Congress to tackle the bill and make it a priority,” Angara told reporters. “We will have to see,” he added, noting that the House of Representatives already passed amendments relaxing bank secrecy in certain cases.
The senator explained his committee is looking to craft “not just a new tax measure but one that will also ensure its efficient administration and tax collection.”
Angara added that the committee will also “take a closer look at the details of the tax proposals so it won’t be just a new tax but administration of tax reforms”.
Image credits: Roy Domingo