Amid the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities, business owners welcomed the passage of the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (Trabaho) bill in the House of Representatives.
For Rey Calooy, president of Filipino-Cebu Business Club Inc., since the bill seeks to lower the corporate income tax, more investors are expected to pour in money, generating more livelihood and new businesses.
“This is one way to encourage them (investors) to come here, especially since we are one of the highest (in corporate income tax) in Asia. With the savings the companies will get, this will redound to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as they expand their businesses,” said Calooy, in a phone interview.
With a vote of 187-14 with three abstentions, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading on Monday the second package of Train Law.
Retailer Robert Go said lowering of taxes can attract even local investment and bring positive impact to businesses like retail.
The government’s comprehensive tax program aims to generate funds for its Build, Build, Build program.
“Taxes per se are not bad, except that it takes a period for the economy to feel its positive impact or it would go to waste if corruption is not minimized,” said business owner Philip Tan, also former president of Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
For his part, Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph hopes the lawmakers have studied the possible effects of the bill on the economy, especially now that Filipinos are bearing the brunt of high prices of commodities.
“I hope they have studied how they are going to address the runaway inflation caused by Train 1,” said Joseph.
Not all sectors in business have expressed approval of the second package, particularly on the modernization of incentives.
Manufacturing and outsourcing industries have lobbied for the retention of incentives under the second package.
Low-end housing developers, likewise, expressed apprehensions, warning that modernizing the incentives may negatively impact the production of socialized and low-cost housing in the country.
The Trabaho bill, principally authored by House committee on ways and means chairman Dakila Carlo Cua, Reps. Estrellita Suansing, Arthur Yap, Eric Singson and Bernadette Herrera-Dy, among others, is a product of six committee hearings of the committee on ways and means, one technical working group and numerous meetings with the private sector. (KOC, SunStar Philippines)