FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III wants lawmakers to approve the remaining packages of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) before the year 2021.
Dominguez told reporters that the most productive time to get tax reform packages e.g., increasing excise tax on alcoholic beverages and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), to be passed is within the next 15 months to 18 months.
“Look at what happened in 2015: everybody [started] focusing on something else. So we are sure, I don’t think that it will be that much; but this is the reality we have to face, so we have to finish this thing by 15 to 18 months,” Dominguez said at the sidelines of an event celebrating the 115th anniversary of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR). “That is our target [before 2021].”
The remaining packages under the CTRP include the following: lifting of bank secrecy laws for fraud cases; automatic exchange of information; general tax amnesty; and, adjustments to the Motor Vehicle Users Charge under Package 1B.
Included too are the following: further lowering corporate income tax and rationalizing fiscal incentives (Package 2B); proposal to broaden the tax base on property taxes by reforming the property valuation system (Package 3); and, rationalizing capital income taxation to address the multiple rates and different tax treatments and exemptions on capital income and other financial instruments (Package 4).
“I think we can do the most [within the 15-18 months’ time frame]; can be the most productive time, because [by] 2021 everybody is looking somewhere else already,” Dominguez added.
He noted that the focus would be preparations for the May 2022 Presidential elections. This means that those who wish to run for office will be busy mounting their respective election campaign, Dominguez explained.
The Department of Finance (DOF) has proposed last June that the Duterte administration’s economic team meet with Congress every week to hasten the approval of measures noted as urgent by the president.
Dominguez said more frequent engagements will prevent bills approved by Congress from being vetoed by the President for going beyond the limits of the fiscal discipline observed by Duterte.
Dominguez explained that “fiscal discipline guarantees not only prudent state spending, but also ensures that the government has enough resources so that new measures do not take away money from millions of poor Filipinos who also need help through existing programs.”