PH tax gains cited in Asia forum

Philippine gains on tax administration reform and fiscal management will be part of discussions at the ninth yearly meeting of the Asia Pacific Tax Forum (APTF) that kicked off Wednesday at the Makati Shangri-La.

“We are eager to learn from the Philippines’ example and we aim that all officials from business, the academe and government use the forum as a learning event to improve tax policies,” APTF co-founder Daniel Witt said at the start of the three-day event.

Witt also sits as president of the Washington DC-based think tank International Tax and Investment Center which, along with the Public Finance Institute of the Philippines, serves as the APTF secretariat.

Further, Witt cited the Philippines’ recent credit rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s to a notch below investment grade “as a good sign” that fiscal management here is going in the right direction.

“The APTF Manila meeting will examine how to balance fiscal and non-fiscal objectives with tax policy,” he said. “A country’s most important trade policy is its tax policy.”

The forum gathers 150 senior government officials, fiscal experts and industry representatives from across the region to discuss the latest developments, studies, issues and challenges in taxation.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue is in the middle of implementing a $54.3-million revenue administration reform project that is meant to help raise tax revenues and reduce tax evasion and corruption. The project covers the modernization of the revenue collection system as well as reforms within the BIR itself.

This project is part of a $434-million grant from United States-backed Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC), which took effect last year.

Along with two other projects, the MCC package is meant to help reduce poverty in the Philippines.

The grant also provides funding for the $120-million Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services, which is meant to improve community-level infrastructure and social services for the poor, and strengthen the capacity of local communities address poverty.

A third component is the $214.44-million secondary national roads development project, which is expected to reduce transportation costs and improve access to markets and social services. This will be done through the rehabilitation of an existing 220-kilometer road segment on Samar Island.