Wednesday, August 08, 2007 Palace to pursue hike in tax on PUVs
* Senators buck move
MALACANANG said Tuesday that the planned increase on taxes imposed on the public utility vehicles (PUVs) “would be gradual” to ease the burden on the operators and drivers.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, during the first Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) meeting in Malacañang reported that there is an ongoing dialogue between government officials and representatives of the transport sector.
Bunye said the meeting and dialogues started way before the announcement of the imposition of the carrier taxes on the operators of public buses, jeepneys, and taxis.
He said the dialogue is focused more on the manner of implementation rather than on the tax itself, which has been existing.
“Secretary Mendoza said this is not a new tax, this is a tax which has been there but was never implemented. It’s a tax on common carriers. The dialogue is continuing and right now they’re discussing the manner of implementing this on a graduated level,” he added.
Bunye said Mendoza did not mention any date when the common carrier tax would be imposed as “talks are ongoing to fine-tune the implementation.”
Under the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Regulation 9-2007 however, the 2,6000 percent increase in the minimum monthly and quarterly gross receipts tax for common carriers and keepers of garages would be implemented starting August 18.
The BIR said the current taxes paid by the PUV operators were based on 1978 prices and that the increase is appropriate and even took into account the inflation and general rise in prices from 1978 to
2006.
The transport sector threatened to seek a P10 hike in fares while lawmakers questioned the increase, branding it as “too much” and that it may end up being passed on to the commuters.
Senators Manuel “Mar” Roxas III and Panfilo Lacson said the BIR must first improve its tax collection system before imposing additional taxes in a bid to raise its revenues and make up for its shortfalls of the past months.
Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, in an ambush interview after the Ledac, said the implementation should be withheld until a review of the tax is completed.
Pangilinan added that they have mentioned this to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the Ledac meeting and told her that the increase is “too high and too much.”
“My position is to revoke it (tax) but I heard the Palace will issue an executive order (EO) for its review,” he said.
Bunye however is not aware of such EO to be issued calling for the review, reiterating that the objections or concerns raised are not about the tax but the “graduation of the tax itself.”
He said the dialogue aims to address it, noting that instead of imposing the whole tax, a small amount could first be paid and the rest to be paid at a later date.
Under the new tax regulations, jeepney operators in Manila and other cities that are now paying an annual tax of P288 will begin paying P7,884, while provincial jeepney operators who now paying P144 will begin paying P3,948.
Bus operators who are currently paying P432 to P864 annually, depending on the bus size, would be paying P11,832 to P23,652.
Metro Manila taxi operators who now paying P432 annually will begin to pay P11,832 while provincial taxi operators who now pay P288 annually will begin paying P7,884. (JMR/Sunnex)
