SSS chief supports Duterte tax reform bid

The increase in the number of SSS members will boost the agency’s revenues, which in turn will allow SSS to provide more services to its members, Dooc said. (File photo: PNA)

MANILA — Social Security System (SSS) President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Emmanuel Dooc expressed support for the administration’s tax reform program, taking note of its benefits to the agency and its members.

For one, the first tax reform package, called the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) and implemented since January 2018, cut workers’ income tax rates, among others.

The second CTRP package, meanwhile, proposes the reduction in corporate income tax (CIT) and rationalization of tax incentives.

Dooc said the reduction of CIT rates will encourage more investors to open businesses and create more jobs.

“More businesses mean more members, more paying members,” he said.

The increase in the number of SSS members will boost the agency’s revenues, which in turn will allow SSS to provide more services to its members, he said.

The agency currently have around 36 million members but Dooc earlier said only about 15 million are active members.

With the proposed tax reforms, the SSS chief said reforms in the country’s tax system will help provide jobs to more people and allow them to be enrolled in SSS.

“SSS is just one of the vessels that fly the seas and so we hope that with better economy, with more businesses, with more active small businesses, with lower CIT our economy will grow. And we’ll have more members capable of paying higher contributions,” he said.

“That will help us achieve our mission of providing affordable universal and meaningful social security benefits,” he added.