‘Remove excise tax on gold of small-scale miners’

A small-scale miner takes a break after taking out sacks of gold ore from a tunnel at the Acupan mines in Itogon, Benguet province. RICHARD BALONGLONG / INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Two lawmakers from gold-rich Benguet province want to remove taxes on gold extracted by small-scale miners to curb the smuggling of the precious metal out of the country.

The removal of excise and income taxes on gold will encourage small-scale miners to sell their gold to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) rather than in the black market, according to Reps. Nicasio Aliping Jr. of Baguio City and Ronald Cosalan of Benguet.

The two have filed House Bill 4951, which seeks to amend Sections 32 and 151 of Republic Act 8424, or the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended, exempting small-scale miners from taxation.–DJ Yap