Tax managers to bat for fair system, other reforms at meet

Tax managers said Saturday they would push for reforms in a meeting of economic managers during the incoming Duterte administration, while criticizing the Bureau of Internal Revenue for releasing a number of regulations ahead of the change in leadership.

The Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP) said in a statement it would “recommend various tax reform proposals” when it joins a two-day consultative workshop scheduled in Davao City beginning Monday.

TMAP said it would propose  remedies for overtaxation resulting from inflation, for adjusting tax rates for regional and global competitiveness, as well as for adopting a “fair and just tax system” to protect taxpayers’ rights.

It said it would also push for simplification of the tax system to promote compliance and broaden the tax base, while plugging tax leaks and removing graft and corruption.

Last week, a statement from the transition team of incoming Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez said part of the proposed 10-point socioeconomic agenda was “instituting progressive tax reform and more effective tax collection, [including] indexing taxes to inflation.”

A tax reform package is to be submitted by the Duterte administration to Congress in September.

“While some of the tax reform proposals would require Congress to enact laws, there are much needed administrative reforms that the incoming DOF and BIR chiefs can implement at their level,” TMAP said.

TMAP said it would also recommend the “withdrawal, reversal or amendment” of several revenue measures which it deemed were “unreasonable or difficult” to comply with.

“We will take the opportunity to call the attention of the next administration to the barrage of last-minute revenue circulars recently issued by the BIR, less than 30 days prior to the start of the new administration,” TMAP said, adding that outgoing Commissioner Kim Henares should have exercised restraint as a courtesy to the incoming administration./rga