House panel approves in principle TRAIN 2

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved "in principle" the Duterte administration’s proposed corporate tax reform program.

Corporate tax reform, filed as House Bill 745, comprises Package 2 of the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program. The proposal is also known as TRAIN 2, after the name of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law.

The bill provides for a one-percentage-point reduction in the current 30 percent corporate income tax every year starting 2019, provided that the cut would not reach lower than 20 percent. The measure also seeks to streamline fiscal incentives to grant them only to those who need them.

Speaking to reporters, Rep. Dakila Cua (Quirino) said the House is working “double time” to pass the bill.

The House committee will now convene a technical working group to create a substitute bill.

“We are trying to finish as early as possible without compromising the quality of the legislation,” he said.

Despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s public popularity and the super-majority he holds in Congress, Senate majority leader Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier said the second package of the tax reform program has “very little support” from senators amid fears that the measure could slow investments.

The Department of Finance is targeting to introduce in July this year the rest of the tax reform packages that mainly cover property and capital income taxation. 

Since the start of 2018, the DOF has submitted Package 2, as well as the reforms on taxes on alcohol and mining, while supporting the bill of Sen. Manny Pacquiao on tobacco excise taxes. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral