Thursday, December 21, 2017
Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. said yesterday that the law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte Tuesday is very good as it will affect the whole countryside as more income will come for the government.
“If there is more income for the government, more services will be given to the people,” Marañon said in an interview during the Outstanding Farmers' Assembly at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City.
The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law overhauls the country's 20-year-old tax regime in a bid to make the tax system fairer and simpler.
Meanwhile, Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer Frank Carbon also said yesterday that the tax reform is necessary as billions of pesos are needed for the Build, Build, Build Program of the national government.
Under the government's P8.44-trillion 2017-2022 “Build, Build, Build” program, the government aims to increase its spending on infrastructure alone to P1.899 trillion, equivalent to 7.45 percent of gross domestic product, by the time Duterte ends his term in 2022.
More infrastructure will mean more investments and jobs for the people, Carbon said, adding that the tax reform is needed to minimize the use of loans to create more projects in the country by the government.
He also said that with the increase in revenues, the government should ensure that investments will also be given to the Visayas and Mindanao.
“We need tax reform as the government cannot continue spending money from debts,” he said, adding, “If this continues, time will come when the revenue incurred will just go into paying debts, not to the maintenance and operation of the infrastructures.”
He said that although Filipinos are employable outside of the country, more people still need jobs locally.
The new law exempts those earning an annual taxable income of P250,000 and below from paying personal income tax, and raised the tax exemption for 13th month pay and other bonuses to P90,000. *MLG
