DOF supports Road Board abolition
The Department of Finance (DOF) said that it is supporting the abolition of the allegedly corruption-plagued Road Board and the transfer of its revenues to the government’s general fund.
In a statement, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the abolition of board and the transfer of its funds will ensure the collection from the Motor Vehicle User Charge (MVUC) is transparent and accountable.
According to Dominguez, the DOF has been pushing for transparency in the use of MVUC funds which was already covered by the original version of the comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP) submitted by the DOF to Congress.
Dominguez said making the current and future funds of the Road Board as part of the general fund will ensure that their appropriation is scrutinized by lawmakers as part of the normal budgeting process.
The reform of the MVUC or Road User’s Tax by adjusting its rates to account for inflation and simplifying it by collapsing the multitude of rates into a single one based on weight is included in Package 1-B of the CTRP.
Complementing these proposed reforms by the DOF is the abolition of the Road Board, which is authorized under Republic Act 8794 to manage and utilize the MVUC funds.
The DOF also specifically proposed to the Congress that the Road Board funds be transferred to the General Fund.
“We want the current and future funds now earmarked for the Road Board to be part of the General Fund which will then be appropriated by the legislature as part of the normal budgeting process and not allocated by an un-elected Board, which lessens the transparency on the use of the funds,” Dominguez said.
But because both the Senate and the House of Representatives had already approved a bill abolishing the Road Board, the DOF found it unnecessary to include in its Sept. 20, 2018 letter to the Congress a request for its abolition, and detailed instead the remaining tax reform proposals under the CTRP, which it asked lawmakers to approve.
Last September 12, the Senate adopted the House version on the Road Board abolition to dispense with the bicameral conference process. The House, however, rescinded its approval of the bill on third reading on the same day Chua recalled.
On top of reforms in the MVUC, the DOF’s proposed Package 1-B also includes the lifting of bank secrecy laws, the automatic exchange of tax information and the implementation of three types of amnesties.