By Macon Ramos-Araneta
House independent bloc leader Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on Sunday urged President Benigno Aquino III to support a proposed law lowering income taxes to show empathy (“malasakit”) to ordinary Filipinos this Christmas.
“To pass this very important measure is the best of all gifts that the government can give this Christmas to our ordinary workers,” said Romualdez, a lawyer and the president of the Philippine Constitution Association.
The President’s support for the bill would be a big factor in securing its swift approval in Congress, Romualdez said.
Romualdez filed his certificate of candidacy for the Senate at the Commission on Elections office in Manila for the upcoming 2016 elections.
The Leyte lawmaker, who earned his law degree at the University of the Philippines after taking his Bachelor of Arts degree at Cornell University, is now on his third term in office.
Romualdez earlier said he welcomed the plan of House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to meet with the President during Congress’ recess in a last-ditch effort to save the passage of the measure filed by Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo, chairman of the House committee on ways and means.
Quimbo said Belmonte and Senate President Franklin Drilon could convince the President to pass the bill before Christmas.
According to Quimbo, the income tax reform proposal is very much alive and could be approved before the 16th Congress ends.
Romualdez backed Quimbo’s position that Malacañang should forego the projected P30-billion annual revenue losses as a result of the reduction in the personal and corporate income tax rates since P44-billion could be generated by two new revenue sources.
During a recent meeting at Malacañang, Quimbo explained to the President that the government would generate a combined P44 billion in new income from the P13 billion taxes from the implementation next year of P50.6-billion Salary Standardization Law and P33 billion from a measure seeking the imposition of a 10-percent ad valorem tax on soft drinks and other sweetened beverages.
Meanwhile, Senator Chiz Escudero on Sunday told voters to make tax reforms an election issue so that more leaders would throw their support behind legislative efforts to amend the Tax Reform Act of 1997.
“Everyone is now singing the same tune, even those who were hesitant to support us in the past. And that’s fine. The important thing is to let this campaign for tax reforms gather steam because it is a legitimate issue that begs to be addressed if we want to sustain economic growth,” noted Escudero who is running for vice president in next year’s election.
Escudero reiterated the need to legislate tax reforms not only to lower the income taxes paid by individuals and businesses but also to streamline the process of payment to encourage non-salaried workers and micro-, small and medium enterprises to pay.
Escudero said the Philippines does not only impose one of the highest income tax rates in Asia, it also has one of the most tedious processes for paying taxes in the world.
He cited the study by the international audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that ranked the Philippines 127th among 189 economies in terms of ease of paying taxes for businesses. Thailand is ranked 62nd and Malaysia, 32nd.
“The Philippines is just three notches above Sierra Leone and 12 notches above Sudan in the rankings. In fact, it’s even easier to pay taxes in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. What does that say about us?” Escudero asked.