MANILA – Senate President Vicente Sotto III recently said he took out the provision that removes the incentives being enjoyed by locators at the country’s economic zones in his sponsored version of the Department of Finance’s (DOF) comprehensive tax reform program or TRAIN 2.
“Sa version ko, inalis ko ang probisyon na tinatanggal ang tax incentives sa mga economic zones kasi hindi maganda feedback tungkol dun,” Sotto said in a radio interview.
The TRAIN 2 seeks to lower the corporate income tax from the current 30 percent to 25 percent, while rationalizing fiscal incentives to plug revenue leakages.
In January, the DOF submitted to Congress its proposal seeking to plug leakages such as tax holidays and incentives with no time limits which costs the government over P300 billion yearly in foregone revenues.
The DOF also seeks to remove the 5-percent tax on gross income earned currently being enjoyed by economic zone investors.
Sotto said such tax incentives should be retained as it might discourage investors and push them to invest in other countries instead.
“The important thing is we discuss it in the committee level ng mga senador ilagay pag-usapan ang mga nasa isip nila kesa naman ‘di namin pag-usapan at makinig na lang kami sa mga sinasabi ng mga nagbabasa nito. Maganda na rin na mapag-usapan ang nilalaman nito,” the Senate President said.
Sotto, on Thursday, filed a bill pushing for the second package of tax reforms proposed by the DOF, a week after he said majority of senators were not inclined to support TRAIN 2, after the promises and forecasts of economic managers during TRAIN 1 deliberations failed to materialize.
“Kung talagang maganda ang laman at tama ang suspetsa ko na makikinabang ang maliliit like sa MSMEs may pag asa yan. Pero kung yung ibang parte run na di pa naming masyadong nakikita biglang may lilito na makakasama ay mahihirapan,” he said. (GMA News)
