MANILA– Foreign business groups expect reduced corporate tax rates as they support the immediate legislation that would reduce corporate tax and rationalize tax incentives.
European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) president Nabil Francis said the proposed Comprehensive Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (CITIRA) should be “passed quickly.”
“We are in support of those key reforms agenda of the government. What is important is to fast-track because we are moving well (with) so-called competitors, the neighboring countries are ready,” Francis said in a press briefing Thursday on the sidelines of the Arangkada Philippines Forum 2019.
The second package of the comprehensive tax reform program, CITIRA reduces corporate income tax from 30 percent to 20 percent over 10 years.
Francis said the chamber’s members intend to determine the future fiscal regime of the Philippines with the passage of the legislation.
“Because of the (pending) CITIRA bill, we have a bit of uncertainty. In general, investors, they don’t like uncertainty,” he said in an interview.
The ECCP has more than 700 members, 60 percent of them are European companies that have invested in the Philippines.
Julian Payne, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, considered the tax bill as “very comprehensive.”
“We strongly support reduction of it to 20 percent, which is the ASEAN average, (but the) real question now is how quickly it happens,” he said. (PNA)
