Senate may set aside tax bills over COVID-19's economic impact –Sotto

The Senate might put aside the remaining packages of the comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP)  should the economic woes arising from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak worsen, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Saturday.

"'Yung mga naka-pending sa amin na mga CITIRA, PIFITA, 'yung mga bill ng Department of Finance (DOF) baka maano muna 'yan... kung lalala ang sitwasyon di muna kami kikilos diyan," Sotto said during the weekly In Focus news forum in Quezon City.

The CITIRA or the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act was the second package of the Duterte Administration's CTRP. The measure would gradually lower the corporate income tax by one percent every year, bringing it down from 30 percent to 20 percent by 2030.

Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Senator Pia Cayetano sponsored the bill in the Senate. 

Meanwhile, the PIFITA or the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act would cut the tax rates on interest income from regular savings and short term deposits from the current 20 percent to 15 percent.

It would also decrease the tax rates on interest income from foreign currency deposits and long-term deposits to 15 percent. 

Other pending packages of the CTRP, included:

• proposal to increase the excise tax on tobacco and alcohol products and increase the government's share from mining;
• proposal to reform property taxation to make the valuation system "more equitable, efficient, and transparent

If the economy is put at greater risk due to the COVID-19, Sotto said the pending bills would not be addressed at the moment as legislators could instead help in crafting measures to alleviate the impact of COVID-19.

Economists warned that the outbreak was putting the global economy at its greatest risk of recession since the 2008 financial crisis.  

However, the country’s chief economist had earlier brushed off the potential threat of the novel coronavirus to the Philippine economy given the efforts being undertaken to contain the spread of the disease. 

“I think it's just short-term effect because given that there’s a lot of measures being done to minimize the Filipinos incurring the coronavirus,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said. — Ted Cordero/DVM, GMA News