The Mindanao Business Council Inc. has given its full backing to the comprehensive tax reform program of the Duterte administration, describing it as “the starting point” in attaining economic prosperity by 2040.
Led by its chairman, Vicente Lao, the MBCI said that President Duterte’s vision of significantly reducing poverty by 2022 and completely eradicating it 2040, or 24 years from now, “is a dream we share and we will commit to working towards it.”
Lao said the MBCI is supportive of the DOF’s program in making the tax system simpler, fairer and more efficient, which would be achieved by the first package of reforms it had submitted to the Congress in September.
This first package involves reducing personal income tax (PIT) rates, expanding the tax base and adjusting the excise taxes on petroleum products and automobiles, with certain exceptions.
In a statement, the MBCI said that, “As partners for change, we, the Mindanao Business Council, fully support the Duterte Administration’s comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP), spearheaded by DOF.”
“We believe that the program, comprising several packages beginning with the first package submitted to Congress in September 2016, will simplify and correct the inefficiency and inequity of our tax system. More importantly, we believe that the CTRP is fiscally sound, responsible, and will address the development needs of our country, which are particularly acute in Mindanao,” the MBCI said.
“The long-delayed development of Mindanao can be attained by securing peace and investing in the future, particularly rural development. These are at the heart of President Duterte’s economic policy, which we continue to support and seek to advance,” it added.
The MBCI said that, “We applaud the vision and substance of the proposed comprehensive tax reform, and we call on every Filipino to support it. Change is here, and with this proposed reform that change will become economically transformative.”
It pointed out that the proposed PIT reductions “is immediately needed and rightfully deserved by the Filipino taxpayer” as “this will provide due relief for the middle and lower-income classes and spur consumption, the effects of which we hope to feel immediately in Mindanao.”
Lao said the Mindanao business community is also backing the DOF’s proposal to broaden the VAT base by reducing unnecessary exemptions and “insidious sources of revenue leakage.”
“Many of our VAT exemptions aim to protect vulnerable sectors, but we are in agreement with the DOF that these sectors must be protected through more targeted and effective means, and not through the tax system, which benefits the rich far more. Most importantly, rationalizing VAT exemptions will improve compliance and contribute to ease of doing business,” the MBCI said.
