krsinesiillirnDr

Friday, Septemb er 20, 2Ol9

E>eDOF chiefs seek

tarreform bills' OI( the 'sin" furthel
fi ORMER finance sdcretaries 2+ or Lax reform
l- e*pr"r"ed their support for increasing excise taxes on alcohol.
I- the immed iate passage of Lhe and e-cigarettes, Package 3 or the
remain ingpackages of the Compre Real Property Valuation Reform,
hensjve Tax Reform Program, saY- and Package 4 or the Passive Tn-
ing the CTRP is crucial to cutting come and Financial lntermediarY
poverty incidence to 14 percent, Taxation Act.
from 21 percent in three years. They said these tax reforms, as
In a joinL statement, the for well as the proposed amendments
mer finance chiefs and economic to the Public Service Act, the For-
experts stressed that tax reforms, eign InvestmentsAct (FIA) and the
among other measures, will helP Retail Trade Act (RTA), will also
the Duterte administration achieve benefit the country.
its twin goals of attaining an'A- 'A modern fiscal incentive sYs
minus" sovereign credit rating in tem that is performance-based,
the next few years and reducing targeted, rime-bound and t rans
poverty incidence. parent will ensure that each peso
The remaining four packages granted as an incentive is not
of the tax-reform program, which wasted, and is instead given to
in
ard currently being deliberated compan ies that provide a net posi-
Congress, are Package 2, or the tive benefit to the country," the
Corporate Income Tax and Incen- statement read.
tives Rationalization Act, Package
1 \ ' SEE "EX-DOF," A2,

prominenr public figures t0 rally behind

Ex-DOF... pr0posa ls t0 im prove the cou ntry's tax system

and make it"simplet fairerand m0re efficient'

CoNatNuED FRoM A1
The statement was signed bY: Formet
"We support Pa(kage 4 0fthe CTRP as it Prime iMinister and ex-Department 0fFlnan(e

makes the taxation of palsive income and

(D0t) Secretary Cesar Virata, former DOF

finan(ial servi(eJ and transactions simpler se(retary and sen. Albert0 Romulo, f0rmel
and more efficient by reducingthe number 0f Dot Secretaries i\,largarito Teves, Roberto de
combinati0ns 0f tax bases and rates fr0m 80 Ocampo and lose (amacho, and former DOF

to 40ilit added. Undersefietary Romeo Bernaldo.

The e(0n0mists and formerlinance chiefs The slatement was also supported by
believe that"all these ref0rms are necessary if f0rmer 50(i0e(0n0mi( Planning se(retaries
the Philippines is t0 move forward t0 a future Cielito Habito and Arseni0 BaliJatan; Fermin
Ad rian0, formervice dan cell0r ofthe un iversity
with no extreme Poverty bY 20401'
Iheir statement 0f support for the CTRP 0fthePhilippinelL0sBanos;and Iilomeno5ta.

was in r€sp0nse t0lhe (a ll 0f Fina n(e 5ecetary Ana, coordinator 0f the Adion for Economic
Ref or mg B i a n ca Cu arun
q
Grlos G. Dominguez lll lastweek for these

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