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Thursday, January 20, 2005
Lateral Attrition bill passed
MANILA -- The Senate ratified Wednesday night the bicameral conference committee report on the Lateral Attrition bill, the second of tax measures intended to raise revenues for the government.
Senator Ralph Recto, chairman of the Senate ways and means committee, presented the report to the plenary after the two houses of Congress approved the bicameral report Wednesday afternoon, adopting mostly the Senate version.
Surprisingly, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel and Senator Alfredo Lim, who opposed the bill during deliberations, did not vote against the ratification.
"The Senate version was substantially followed. Nasunod yung version ng Senado maliban lang dun sa ilang maliliit na amendment na hindi naman nakapagpabago ng concept na ipinasa ng Senado (Except for small amendments that did not change the concept of what was passed by the Senate)," Drilon said.
Minutes after the ratification and signing of the report by 18 senators, the bill was sent to Malacanang for signing.
The bill is the second tax measure passed by Congress, after the "sin tax" bill. It is included in the eight tax proposals being pushed by the government to increase revenues.
The bill seeks to optimize the revenue collection performance of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) by adopting a reward and penalty system.
BOC and BIR personnel would be rewarded if they surpass their respective collection targets but they would also be sanctioned if they fail to meet their targets.
Based on the Senate version, the reward can be from 20 percent to 50 percent of the excess revenue collection while the punishment prescribed is expulsion from the position if the agency misses the target even by 10 percent.
"The system of rewards, incentives and sanctions will cover all officials and employees of the BIR and BOC," Recto said. (JPM)
(January 20, 2005 issue)
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