‘CITIRA at CREATE bills sa Kamara 3 dekada nang pinag-uusapan’

Kamara

ITINANGGI ng isang lider ng Kamara de Representantes na minamadali ang pagpasa ng tax bills.

Ayon kay House committee on ways and means chairman at Albay Rep. Joey Salceda may tatlong dekada nang pinag-uusapan ang tax incentives reforms na naglalayong itama ang ibinibigay na tulong ng gobyerno sa mga negosyante.

“We’ve been at it for 3 decades, and this administration has approved this reform since 2018. I don’t know if anyone can call that rushing, but my first term was in 1998, and every Congress from that year, I have filed some version of this reform. If this passes this year, it will be the culmination of decades’ worth of work, and not some rush to get it done,” saad ng solon.

Si Salceda ang may-akda ng Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act (CITIRA) at ang bagong bersyon nito na Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE).

Ayon sa solon noong 1998 ay inihain nito ang “Subsidy Council Act” na siyang lolo ang isinusulong niyang CREATE.

“Then as now, I would dare opponents of fiscal incentives reform: show me your financial statements, and let me see how the reform hurts you, so that we can make adjustments. After all, my career before being a Congressman involved analyzing financial statements – so there is nothing there that I will not understand. I’m on my fifth term in Congress now, and no one has taken up that request among all the opponents of the reform.”

Hindi umano alam ni Salceda kung bakit nais ng mga kritiko na patagalin pa ang panukala na magpapalit sa corporate tax at magtatama sa insentibo na ibinibigay sa mga kompanya upang mas maraming investor ang pumasok.

“We have lost 12 billion USD in investments over the past 3 years due to the delays. Letting that number increase, at this point, is a sin of policymaking omission at this point.”

Ayon kay Salceda ngayon din tamang panahon para makuha ang atensyon ng mga kompanya na umaalis sa China dahil sa tensyon nito sa Amerika at Japan.

“So, downright, the proposal to delay it is a bad idea. If you were an investor, would you invest in a country that keeps postponing tax policy, or would you go to one where the conditions are more certain? We can add sweeteners when we get there. Besides, this country has some of the strongest labor and financial fundamentals in the region. And under the new CREATE, there is no chance that we will miss elephant-sized investments like Samsung. But first, let’s get there. After three decades of discussions, let’s pass this now.”

Wala rin umanong narinig na negosyante si Salceda na nagsasabi na hindi sila makikinabang sa pagbawas sa corporate income tax.

“Plus, the CIT cut should not be taken in isolation. We’re doing various interventions at every factor of production – wage subsidies, credit assistance, technical assistance, and CREATE has an enhanced NOLCO provision for those who will incur losses this year. One should not analyze CREATE separately from Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE). Those are twin bills. I principally authored both, after hundreds of engagements, exactly for the purpose of doing holistic government intervention.”