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ALTHOUGH
Malacañang has already ruled out the pursuit of new
taxes in the incoming 14th congressional session, new
ones are being sought to buttress the national coffers
amid collection shortfalls in the first five months,
vis-à-vis a vow by the administration to make this a
“payback year” in terms of infrastructure and
socioeconomic services.
One
target for taxation: the toll ways. The Department of
Finance bared on Friday the need to find a legal basis
for imposing the value-added tax on the nation’s toll
ways as part of a broad effort to strengthen collections
over the medium term.
The
planned VAT on tollways comes on the heels of the intent
to have President Arroyo delegate the power to access
the tax returns of corporate and individual taxpayers to
the Department of Finance for purposes of benchmarking
and tax analysis.
Access
to internal tax returns is seen to help tax policy
planners see where collections were weakest and plot
countermeasures accordingly.
According to Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran, around
P1 billion more would have poured into the nation’s
coffers every year had the nation’s toll operators been
required to pay the 12-percent VAT.
Policy
planners are urging Finance Secretary Margarito Teves,
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda chief Romulo
Neri and others at the Cabinet economic cluster to find
the legal basis for imposing the VAT on tolls.
Toll
operators such as the Philippine National Construction
Corp. provide services that under the law must pay the
VAT, although Beltran admits that for some reason they
have been tolerated for not paying any.
He said
toll operators “exploit” the letter of the VAT law which
does not explicitly provide they pay for it just like
other service providers such as banks, the various
professions and others.
The sale
of products and services must pay VAT as provided for
under Republic Act 9337 passed in 1997.
Beltran
told reporters Secretary Teves has sought direction from
the BIR on whether it was possible to impose the VAT on
toll operators under existing provisions and without
having to seek the assistance of the incoming Congress.
Teves
believes activities the law does not explicitly exclude
under RA 9337 are presumed VATable.
Beltran
said the toll operators can simply pass on the VAT to
motorists provided the Toll Regulatory Board approves
it.
Should
tollways operators decide on this course of action, then
the government will collect the VAT out of the earnings
they report at the end of each year, he added. |
