THE Department of Finance hailed lawmakers for their “prompt action” in fast-tracking the process of getting the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization package through the legislative mill.
In a statement over the weekend, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III thanked the House ways and means committee chaired by Albay Representative Joey Salceda for the “swift approval” of the proposed Citira.
“We thank Representative Salceda, the various
sponsors of the Citira bill, and the members of the House ways and means
committee for
heeding the call of President Duterte in his Sona (State of the Nation Address)
on the swift approval of this measure, which represents Package 2 of his
comprehensive tax reform program [CTRP],” Dominguez said.
Salceda and 26 other members of the ways and means committee voted Wednesday to approve the Citira, as embodied in House Bill 313, upon the motion of Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita Suansing, a senior vice chairman of the panel.
According to the DOF, the Citira bill will make the Philippines more attractive to investors by gradually lowering the corporate income tax (CIT) rate from 30 percent to 20 percent, and rationalizing the system of granting fiscal incentives to companies.