IF A bill drafted by Sen. Bam Aquino becomes a law, startups in the country will no longer have to pay taxes for two years.
“This measure encourages startups to get organized and establish their business operations and market base. It will give these enterprises the proper time to stand on their own,” reads part of the Start-Up Business Bill or Senate Bill 2217.
Aquino has also filed the Youth Entrepreneurship Bill (SB 1032), which would require entrepreneurship courses to be incorporated into secondary and tertiary education, said Karl Satinitigan, programs director of the office of Senator Aquino. He was in Cebu last Thursday on Aquino’s behalf for the ICT-BPM conference.
The bill defines startups as newly registered businesses in industry, agribusiness or services. To qualify for the benefits, they must not be affiliates, subsidiaries or franchisees of any existing company. Aquino chairs the Senate committees on trade, commerce and entrepreneurship and on youth. He filed the startup bill last May 7, 2014.
The second bill seeks to require the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to facilitate grants to ensure that schools and teachers have the capacity to teach entrepreneurship. If the bill is approved, it will require the MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) Development Council to develop a National Youth Entrepreneurship Program that will provide young entrepreneurs with support in terms of access to financing, capital incubation, and technology and skills transfer.