Gov’t not proposing any new taxes until next year – Recto
THE Philippines will not be imposing new taxes until next year, Finance Secretary Ralph Rector said yesterday as the Commission on Appointments ( CA) confirmed him as the country’s Finance chief.
Recto told the CA finance committee that the government is pursuing only tax measures that “are already in the advance stages in Congress” and made the assurance that there will be no new tax measures until at least next year.
“Only t hose t hat are already in the advance stages in Congress… so we are only pursuing the six measures that are here already in Congress,” Recto told reporters.
He reiterated that the agency is not proposing any new taxes and will push “only what is on the table.”
Recto also said he is not bothered by government debt as long as the economy grows faster than the growth of debt, even as he pointed out that the government borrows around P4 billion a day.
He explained the proposed 2024 national budget of P5.767 trillion translates to an average daily spending of P15.8 billion versus only P11.7 billion in revenues, “leaving a P4 billion hole which must be plugged by debt.”
“‘ Gagasta ng P15.8 billion bawat araw. Ngunit P11.7 billion lang ang kayang pondohan ng buwis. Kaya may P4 bilyon na dapat utangin. Kada 24 oras’ was how I framed our daily fiscal conundrum,” Recto told the committee.
“But it never crossed my mind at that time that one month later, I will be heading the department that must raise the P15.8 billion daily, from tax collected and money borrowed.”
He added that 2/3 of the debt is domestic in the form of treasury bills for instance while only 1/3 is from foreign sources.