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Saturday, September 18, 2004
Top taxpayers to pay P1M more in taxes: Arroyo
PRESIDENT Arroyo said Friday government will exact P1 million in additional taxes from the top 50,000 corporate and individual taxpayers.
She said Internal Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno Jr. will work out the details of the new revenue drive that would be launched soon.
Arroyo said it is too early to tell whether Christmas would be happy or gloomy because the market is waiting for the "signal of political will" from government. She said the "signals" would reduce interest rates and free more funds for services.
The President also said she is ordering the transportation department to privatize the assets of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) so that the assets could be used to finance the Bicol Railroad project in view of dearth of funds
Meanwhile, Arroyo said she would be content if the House of Representatives could pass four of eight tax measures before the end of the year.
"I think that's good; that's half of it," Arroyo said during a luncheon with Palace reporters.
She said the general tax amnesty bill, which is the first to be passed by the House, should not be viewed as a reward for tax evaders but as an opportunity for people who did not pay the right amount of tax in the past to "contribute to what they did not do in the past."
She said it is up to the lawmakers if they want to follow the measures that her economic managers are proposing or come up with their own way of raising revenues and plugging the deficit.
"I submitted them to Congress. I told Congress however my economic managers do not have the monopoly of wisdom. I'm just telling you, we need to raise P80 billion. If you have other better ideas, you're very welcome," she said.
But she said the proposed tax measures hew closely to the UP School of Economics recommendations.
"We must finance our growth ourselves as much as possible. That's why we have to face the truth after all this culture of borrowing, borrowing, borrowing we have to change that mindset," she said. JMR
(September 18, 2004 issue)
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