Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said he will discuss the second package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law with the Senate leadership, following reports that some senators are lukewarm to the proposal.
“Really?… I will talk to the leadership of the Senate,” Dominguez said Wednesday in response to a query.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri was earlier quoted as saying that no senator wanted to endorse the proposed package 2 of the Train law.
Zubiri said one of the reasons lawmakers were lukewarm to support the tax measure was the possibility that hundreds of thousands of individuals might lose their jobs if the fiscal incentives currently enjoyed by a number of industries were removed.
Dominguez expressed confidence that the timetable set by President Rodrigo Duterte for the submission to Congress of all comprehensive tax reform packages by end-July would be met.
Dominguez said the Finance Department would extend all the technical support that the Congress needed to heed the president’s call for the passage of package two this year.
“The DoF commits itself to the President’s stated deadline. Tax reform will bring about growth with equity and heightened productivity that will help us attain our aspiration to be a high middle-income country by 2022, lifting one million Filipinos from poverty every year,” Dominguez said.