Instead of enacting new laws, the Speaker of the Philippines House of Representatives, Feliciano Belmonte, urged to prioritize measures that would plug loopholes in the country’s tax system and rationalize the tax incentives law. Bills that would include the proposed Investments and Incentives Code (IIC) and the measures that will improve tax revenues for the government, has been emphasized.
The government is trying to make the various tax incentives offered in the Philippines more effective by introducing the new IIC as an opportunity to consolidate and rationalize the country’s tax system. It has been said that if the proposal is enacted into law it would actually generate more tax revenue for the government.
In addition, it is also suggested that the parliament should take forward the bill that would introduce a unitary system of cigarettes and alcohol “sin” taxes as the existing tax law has a is not indexed to product prices, but relies on the year the product was introduced to establish the relevant rate of duty. The proposed measure would establish unified rate of excise duty for cigarettes, as well as for alcoholic drinks.
