Senate to give best effort to pass corporate tax reform bill before adjournment -Sotto

The Senate will do its best to pass the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act (CITIRA) before the session adjourns next month, according to Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday.

"We will give it our best effort," Sotto said in a message to reporters.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has appealed to the Senate for the swift approval of the corporate tax reform bill which aims to lower the tax rate, widen the tax base, and reduce tax distortions and leakages.

Under the bill, which has been certified urgent by President Rodrigo Duterte in March, the corporate income tax rate for domestic and resident foreign corporations would gradually be reduced from 30% to 20% by 2029.

The proposed CITIRA is still on second reading.

Asked if it will further be modified given the health crisis in the country, Sotto said the lawmakers will see during the period of amendments.

Meanwhile, Senator Pia Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Ways and Means Committee, recently said CITIRA may be used to encourage the business sector to invest in industries that would be needed in the Philippines as it faces the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I see the opportunity for CITIRA to be used to incentivize the industries that we need right now," she said.

"We might have to go back to the drawing board kasi there's a new situation 'di ba? So obviously mai-incentivize din 'yung mga company that would be investing in products that would make us self-reliant. For example, 'yung makagawa tayo ng sariling PPEs natin," she added.

Congress will adjourn its session on June 3. --KBK, GMA News