Gov’t urged to review fiscal incentives instead of hiking tax on petroleum

Review laws on the grant of tax incentives instead of raising taxes on petroleum products, Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon (Pictured) urged the government economic managers on Thursday. (Photo: Franklin Drilon/ Facebook)

MANILA –Review laws on the grant of tax incentives instead of raising taxes on petroleum products, Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon urged the government economic managers on Thursday.

Drilon made this remark stressing that concerned agencies and economic managers of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte should try to exhaust other means to compensate for the expected foregone revenues from the proposed income tax cut.

This way, he said, it would generate additional revenues to help offset projected decrease in revenues that may arise from income tax cuts.

The government would also be able to assess the economic impact of these incentives by reviewing the grant and administration of incentives to business enterprises.

“If our aim is to increase revenues, then the government should look at reviewing the various laws on the grant of tax incentives and plug the leakages in our tax system,” Drilon said.

The senator said that imposing a tax hike on petroleum should not become an extra burden to Filipinos.

“I hope that our economic managers will work closely with Congress for the long-sought Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives law instead of spending its time on a tax hike on petroleum products that will surely negatively affect our people,” he added.

Drilon is the author of Senate Bill No. 229 which seeks to review the government’s system of granting incentives to business enterprises in the country.

His proposed measure will cover all incentives granted by all investment promotion agencies (IPAs) such as the Board of Investments and Philippine Economic Zone Authority to foreign and local business enterprises.