-:,1."?
Citira Pifita bills. o o conrruu'opnouAr
Monday, SePtemb et 9, 2019
Citiru,Pifita bills seen
to hurdle House soon
E SPITE the "disagreement"
between Cabinet members
on the proposed Corporate
Income Tax and Incentives Ratio-
nalization Act, the chairman of
the House Committee onWays and
Means on Sunday said two packages
of the Comprehensive Tax Reform
Program (CTRP), including Citira,
will be approved this week.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, the
panel chairman, said the proposed
Passive Income and Financial In-
termed.iary Taxation Reform Act
(Pifita) willbe approved on third and
finai reading on Mondaywhile Citira
is expected to be passed on second
reading on Monday; and third and
final reading ori Thursday.
Pifita or House Bill 304 seeks
to rationalize the taxation of the
financial sector so that it becomes
simpler, fairer, more efficient and
\frhdr
) decided
regionally competitive.
Alro, the bili-Package 4 of the
CTRP-reviews the taxes imPosed
on financial intermediaries and the
products they offer: on savings and
investments; and debt and equitY
I
instruments.
"The nation will witness tlre
most historic week in reformti"
bigwin for economic reforr-ns with
huge positive gains for GDP growth
and socioeconomic fairness within
the context of globalization. Citira
presents itself as the principal na-
tional response to the US-China
trade wat," Salceda said.
'settle issues'
HOWEVER, Salceda, in h state-
ment, asked Cabinet members to
"settle their issues" with President
Duterte on the passage of Citira.
SEr "CtrIRA, PFITA BILLS," Az
PAe€ "
The passage of (itira
still pending at the
is
plenary two weeks after its approval at the
committee level.
ln January 2018,5alceda said the President
with the (abinet to make Citira a
flagship refdrm of his administration.
The Citira, Salceda said, essentially seeks
two things-reduce the corporate income
tax rates from 30 percent to 2b percent for the
almost 1 million businesseswhile rationalizing
incentives for some 4,100 firms who pay only
five years after a period of paying none.
"ln two consecutive Sonas, he appealed to
to pass it as a national imperative
Congress
make the tountry more competitive After much
committee deliberations. andr consultations,'
macroeconomic, industry and sectoral studies,
thousa nds of pages o! preseffitions, Poslti9n
papers, the House of Rqresentatives of the
17th Congress pasefl It on third reading which
unfortunately was notrpassed tfre Senatei he
said.
"l have learned one big lesson so I appeal
to Cabinet members not to export their
disagreements, ad mittedly mostly arising from
their differing mandates and constituencies,
and settle them with the President and within
the Cabineti said Salceda, with0ut naming the
Cabinet members.
---n,iotolng
io salceoa, the House has
negotiated vigorously with the Department
of Finance so that the Committee on Ways
and Means has significantly improved the
original DOF version.
"l concede these are honest disagreements
but please do not use Congress as playground for
yourpolicy battles, orworse use us as proxies or
mercenaries for your skirmishes, because you
are all alter egos of one Presidenti he said.
While the Department ofTrade and lndustry
is supporting the passage of the Citira, Trade
Secretary Ramon Lopez earlier urged lawmakers
to extend the sunset period ofthe bill from the
original proposal offive yearsto 10 years within
which economic zone firms are to surrender
their incentives.
' Philippine EconomicZgne Authority (Peza)
Director Genera I Charits B; f laza also expressed
opposition to (itira's passage.
She also wants
.Peza-registered locators
exempted from Citira's coverage.
However, Salceda said, "l honestlY
feel that it is the Cabinet who are sowing
confusion, sending wrong signals and the
to worst thing is it is pJ0tracting the process
and creating unnecessary uncertainties
among investors."
"This is a policy decision and there are
risks which wq have studiously examined
with the best data science and analytics, and
we have run iimulations and built scenarios
and we are'comfortable that the potential
benefits outweigh themi he sai{r,,
The lawmaker also reiterated tffi e House
the"best"in Soudiast Asia.
veriion of Citira is
"ln 0ur most reasonable estimate, Citira
is good for our country, good for our people
and it is the right thing to do. Cabinet
members know their options, too. After all
the policy noise for almost two years, it is
time for them to speak with one'voice. We
-can
never perfect legislation but ond thing
is sure: it is bad to prolong the business
uncertainty and the best thing t0 d0 is t0
approve it and aJlow investors to decide
on that basisi Salceda added.
Besides priority measures, Salceda said
the House and the Executive Department
agreed to pass revenue-generating tax
packages before approving the proposed
. P4.1-trillion General Appropriations Act for
2020.lovee Moriq N, delo Cruz