Gov’t pushes more tax reform measures

The remaining tax reform packages and a couple of bills aimed at liberalizing foreign investments without touching the Constitution will be among the priority legislation that the Department of Finance (DOF) is pushing for in 2021.

In a statement on Monday, the DOF said its domestic finance group headed by Undersecretary Gil Beltran would continue to engage the Congress on the passage of the other priority bills of the Duterte administration this year.

These include the pending real property valuation and assessment reform act as well as the passive income and financial intermediaries reform act—the last two packages belonging to the DOF’s comprehensive tax reform program.

The DOF also wanted to pass the bills putting in place a new mining fiscal regime and higher motor vehicle road users’ tax.

Besides these tax measures, the DOF is supporting the amendments to the antiquated Public Service Act and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, which economic managers had said would be the “low-hanging fruits” to further open up the economy amid recent moves in Congress to amend the restrictive provisions enshrined in the Constitution.

The DOF is also working on the warehouse receipts bills, while drafting legislation to convert the Insurance Commission (IC) into a collegial body, although Beltran and IC officials did not give more details about this move when sought to comment.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic that entailed measures to address the health and socioeconomic crises inflicted by the deadly coronavirus, the DOF said it successfully pushed the immediate passage of the two “Bayanihan” laws as well as Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises, Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer and Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery bills. —Ben O. de Vera INQ