Mine revenue sharing plan opposed

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is at loggerheads with the Board of Investments (BOI) over the proposed revenue-sharing scheme for the mining industry.

In an interview, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said a draft bill on revenue sharing prepared by the BOI, which is under the Department of Trade and Industry, would lower the government’s take.

“Whatever we submit to the President and the  Congress should be better than the existing scheme,” he added.

The BOI’s proposed mining revenue-sharing arrangement gives the government 10 percent of gross production value or 50 percent of gross income, whichever is higher.

In an Aug. 1 letter to Nestor P. Arcansalin, director of the BOI’s resource-based industries department, MGB director Leo L. Jasareno said the share was lower than the existing tax payments of mining contractors.

The MGB added that based on the BOI draft, the government’s take would even be lower than its existing share considering that the draft bill included all taxes and royalties but excluded real property tax.

“We are instead proposing to keep the present tax regime, but less the incentives plus 5 percent of the gross sale as royalty payment, applicable to both mineral and nonmineral reservation areas,” Jasareno wrote.

According to the MGB, the government take based on the current scheme is 14.4 percent of mining revenue.  Under MGB’s proposal, the government’s share would be 18.2 percent of the gross value while under the BOI draft, it would be lower at 10 percent.