|
THE rate
at which government extracts the common-carrier tax
remains at 3 percent, but its base is still anchored on
the ridiculously low gross receipts totaling only P2,400
every three months.
But even
then, says the Department of Finance, the adoption of a
new base rate would depend entirely on Malacañang, to
which Finance Secretary Margarito Teves looks for
guidance.
According to Finance Undersecretary Gaudencio Mendoza,
the unadjusted base rate means jeepney operators, for
instance, generate gross receipts of more or less P800 a
day, which is considered low.
“Only
the base rate was adjusted as the tax rate of 3 percent
was kept. But still, the revenue regulation was
suspended until further notice,” he said.
While
expected to contribute to the national kitty and help
pare down the year’s P63-billion deficit goal, the base
rate for land transports in Metro Manila would have been
adjusted to P65,700 a quarter or P21,900 a month were it
not met with very loud and stiff opposition.
The
deferment recognized the volatility of oil prices in
markets around the world, the escalating price of
automotive spare parts and wage adjustments that impact
on the margins of transport operators.
Transport operators are levied a 3-percent common
carrier tax rate based on a 1978 law whose base
assumptions no longer reflect reality.
That
same law was based on a consumer price index (CPI), a
key factor in computing the taxable minimum gross
receipts, of only P6.38, disproportionately lower than
CPI of P174.60 as of 2000.
Had the
adjustments been imposed, public utility buses would
have paid the common-carrier tax based on minimum
monthly gross receipts of as low as P32,867 to as high
as P65,700 a month.
Taxis in
Metro Manila would have paid the tax based on minimum
gross receipts of P32,867 a month while competitors in
the provinces would have paid it on the basis of monthly
gross receipts of P21,900.
Cars for
hire would have paid on the basis of receipts as high as
P27,367 and as low as P16,434 a month,
Mendoza
said. |
