THE Senate ratified Monday night a bicameral conference committee report on a proposed remedial legislation granting a one-time amnesty on certain tax and duty liabilities incurred by investor-locators in special economic zones subsequently created outside the Subic freeport.

As adopted, registered business enterprises operating within existing ecozones and freeports prior to the enactment of the remedial legislation, including those in Clark, Poro Point, John Hay and Morong Special Economic Zones may avail themselves of the tax amnesty benefits.

The amnesty covers all applicable tax and duty liabilities, “inclusive of fines, penalties and interests.”

However, the committee report provided that the applicable tax and duty liabilities to be covered by the tax amnesty shall refer only to the difference between 32 percent corporate income tax and the 5 percent tax on gross income earned by the registered business enterprises as determined under relevant revenue regulations of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Memorandum Circulars of the Bureau of Customs.

A separate committee report submitted by Sen. Ralph Recto, Senate ways and means committee chairman, also assured locators they would retain the incentives granted to them when they started their businesses in the eco zones and freeports.

Section 7 of the separate committee report states that business enterprises presently registered and granted with tax and duty incentives by the Clark Development Corp. (CDC), Poro Point Management Corp. (PPMC), John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC), and the Bataan Technological Park Inc. (BTPI) “shall be entitled to the same incentives until the expiration of their contracts entered into prior to the effectivity” of the remedial legislation.

The conference committee also adopted a common provision saying that no national and local taxes shall be imposed on these areas designated as special economic zones and freeport zones. “In lieu of said taxes, a 5-percent tax on gross income earned shall be paid by all registered business enterprises within the zones and shall be directly remitted as follows: 3 percent to the national government and 2 percent to the treasurer’s office of the municipality or city where the zones are located.

The remedial tax amnesty was crafted to correct an oversight committed during the Ramos administration, which granted incentives to investor-locators outside of the Subic free port which were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the incentives were specifically granted only to Subic locators and another law is needed for locators in other free ports to enjoy the same, otherwise they would have to pay back taxes.

Recto pointed out that while the bases conversion and development law specifically granted fiscal incentives to Subic, it did not explicitly apply to Clark and other ecozones like John Hay, Poro Point and Morong. 

THE government has once again declared the bidding for the 25-year concession of the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) a failure after only one of three prequalified bidders submitted a bid.

THE Senate ratified Monday night a bicameral conference committee report on a proposed remedial legislation granting a one-time amnesty on certain tax and duty liabilities incurred by investor-locators in special economic zones subsequently created outside the Subic freeport.

THERE are potential risks of a financial crisis arising from the inadequacy of regulatory oversight over the activities of financial conglomerates (FCs), mostly universal banks, operating in the country, a financial market policy group said Monday.

THERE are no difficult barriers for government to target and actually achieve higher levels of growth with positive factors propping the local economy, a noted economist said on Monday.

AS the threat of a bird flu hovers above the region, the Department of Budget and Management said Monday that a P122.8-million “bird flu” fund in the soon-to-be-signed national  budget for 2007 will be made  available to the Department  of Agriculture for surveillance and quarantine

ONLY around half the country’s savings actually get invested in productive undertakings but even then, the little set aside by Filipino savers helps expand the economy by more than 5 percent every year, the Department of Finance reported on Monday.

FIRST Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong did not yield its right to match the P25.2-billion bid of a Singaporean company for the government’s slightly over 46 percent stake in Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corp. (PTIC).