Arroyo to prioritize corporate tax reform

Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo meets with officials of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) over lunch to discuss the proposed 2019 national budget and how to address inflation. (Photo courtesy of Speaker Arroyo’s office via PNA)

MANILA — Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday said the House of Representatives will prioritize a measure that seeks to rationalize and modernize the corporate tax incentive system.

Arroyo made the statement in an ambush interview before meeting with officials of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) to discuss the proposed 2019 national budget and how to address inflation.

Arroyo said prioritizing the passage of the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) is in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s legislative agenda.

“Yes, remember in the SONA (State of the Nation Address) of President Duterte, it’s (Package 2 of the CTRP) there and I said in my very short statement upon assumption, the first and foremost job I have as a Speaker, is to carry out the legislative agenda of President Duterte,” Arroyo said.

“I don’t want to be very explicit about the timeline but it’s priority,” she added.

Arroyo said she prefers to call the measure “corporate income incentives reform” because calling it Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) 2 is “misleading”.

This is to correct the misconception about the proposed second package of tax reforms that it would impose new taxes.

“It’s not called TRAIN 2 because TRAIN 2 is misleading. It’s called corporate income incentives reform,” Arroyo said.

TRAIN 2 seeks to cut corporate income tax (CIT) to 25 percent from 30 percent.

Package 2 aims to lower the CIT paid by some 95 percent of businesses and at the same time, retaining and providing new fiscal incentives for deserving recipients that will contribute to national development and help generate pro-poor investments and jobs.

More than 99 percent of businesses are micro, small, or medium enterprises (MSME) employing around 65 percent of the country’s workers.

Duterte, in his third SONA, said the enactment of the Package 2 is what stands between today and millions of jobs in the near future.

“I hope to sign Package 2 before the year ends. I urge Congress to pass it in a form that satisfies our goals and serves the interests of the many, not just the wealthy few,” he said.

The President also asked Congress to pass all the remaining packages of the CTRP within this year.