Tax reform named priority for next legislative session
TEN proposed bills — including tax reform and the emergency powers bill — have been identified as priorities by both houses of Congress and Malacañang after officials from the Senate Secretariat and the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office (PLLO) met on Tuesday.
The Senate delegation was led by Senate Secretary Lutgardo B. Barbo and chiefs-of-staff from the offices of the Senators, while the PLLO delegation was led by PLLO Secretary Adelino B. Sitoy and Undersecretary Antonio A. Gallardo. They had a four-hour consultative meeting on Tuesday at the Midas Hotel, in Pasig City.
“I would say that the task ahead of us is quite challenging. But as long as we work together, the challenge can be answered adequately,” Mr. Sitoy said in a statement released by the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau (PRIB) yesterday.
The legislative session will resume on May 2 but is scheduled for a sine die adjournment on June 2, leaving legislators approximately 14 calendar days to meet these priority legislative targets.
Among the bills considered as common priorities between the legislative and the executive is the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), which has one bill pending in the House of Representatives after the consolidation of all other bills into a committee report, and 12 bills in the Senate. As per the Constitution, bills on taxation should originate from the House.
However, the bill pending at the House only includes first package of the CTRP proposed by the Department of Finance (DoF), which seeks to lower personal income tax rates. As of its Jan. 30 draft the package is estimated to result in P139.6 billion in foregone revenue from lower personal income tax, and raise an additional P302.1 billion from reduced value added tax (VAT) exemptions, as well as increased excise taxes on cars and oil products, yielding P162.5 billion in net revenue in the first year of implementation.
Last week, Senator Joseph Victor G. Ejercito said that majority Senators discussed with President Rodrigo R. Duterte in a dinner in Malacañang on March 14 the tax reform program, adding that: “there are some senators who have some apprehensions, who found the proposed tax increase too high.”
The bill granting emergency powers to the President to resolve the traffic transport crisis is also in the list. The measure is already pending a second reading at the Senate while it is still in the committee level in the House.
Another priority is the bill that would create a trust fund to manage the coconut levy funds. The Senate version is awaiting second reading at the plenary level, while 18 House bills on the measure are pending at the House committee level.
The National Mental Health Act, which would include mental health services as part of the national health system, was approved on second reading in the Senate. Ten bills on the measure are pending at the House.
On the other hand, the House approved on third and final reading the Occupational Safety and Health Hazards Compliance Act, which sets the rights and duties of employers and employees regarding occupational safety and health. One bill on the measure has been filed in the Senate.
Bills that have yet to hurdle the plenary level in both houses of Congress that have been marked as priorities by the PLLO and the Senate Secretariat are the following: the Unified National Identification System Act, the Condonation of Land Amortization and Arrears on Interest Payment, the Concurrent Joint Congress Resolution on the Revised Base Pay Schedule of Military and Uniformed Personnel, the Pension Reform for Uniformed Personnel and Security of Tenure Bill.
During the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting on Jan. 30, President Rodrigo R. Duterte identified 55 priority bills as his legislative agenda while both Houses of Congress listed 39 common legislative priorities. —