A lawmaker from the Bicol Region has said the House Ways and Means Committee will push bills expected to raise as much as P65 billion to sustain the funding of President Rodrigo Duterte’s key infrastructure and human development priorities.
Rep. Joey Salceda of Albay, chairman of the House ways and means committee, said the bills that have passed the panel included the measure establishing a tax regime for overseas gaming operations that is expected to raise P20 billion to P45 billion; the Motor Vehicle Road Users’ Tax bill aimed at raking in P16 billion; the mining fiscal regime designed to raise P2 billion and the bill imposing a tax on single-use plastics that will raise P4 billion.
As chairman of the committee, Salceda said he would also find ways to improve tax administration by studying structural reforms in the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.
“We will likewise try to raise taxpayer morale by studying digital transformation of the revenue collection agencies. We want to make taxpayer experience seamless. The aim, ultimately, is to encourage tax compliance and deter tax avoidance,” Salceda said.
“With a few tweaks in taxpayer experience, even if we improve compliance by just 1 percent of total BIR collections, that is already a revenue increase of about 22 billion. We can of course do much more,” he added.
Salceda said the most important priority next year will be to pass the CITIRA bill.
“This is the single most important economic reform after the February 1986 People Power Revolt. I expect the Senate to pass CITIRA within the first two months of the new year. As the first proponent of a governing body for incentives, for me, one of the most crucial aspects of the reform will be the Fiscal Incentives Review Board. No FIRB makes CITIRA meaningless. It’s the people’s seat at the table. Without reform, we will likely hit 500 billion pesos in tax incentives next year, while still making domestic corporations pay the highest tax rates in ASEAN.”
He added: “I also expect the Passive Income and Financial Intermediaries Tax [PIFITA] and the Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act [RPVRA] to pass in 2020. PIFITA will unlock the potential of our capital markets and encourage ordinary Filipinos to invest for their future. RPVRA will help complete Build, Build, Build by expediting right of way acquisition. Both are definitely crucial for growth.”
The committee has three goals that must be achieved by 2022: A-level credit rating, 8-percent GDP growth and widespread prosperity, Salceda added.