A senior economist at the Action for Economic Reforms (AER) believes the proposed tax-reform plan of the Department of Finance (DOF) could prove a game changer that not only generates revenue but should raise enough funds to let the government address the backlog in physical and human capital investments.
AER senior economist Jo-Ann Latuja Diosana said, at a tax forum, that the organization she represents is “very supportive” of the design of the DOF’s tax-reform program, as it focuses on making the current tax system more equitable, efficient, fair and progressive.
“While we are still working on the details, we see a lot of potential in this package and how it can really be a game changer for the country, especially right now [when] we face a lot of constraints, specifically in infrastructure and investments in human capital, such as on health and education,” Diosana said at a recent forum organized by the AER as part of the DOF’s sectoral consultations.
Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III thanked the AER and other civil-society groups that took part in the forum “for being the DOF’s partners in doing this work” of reforming the tax system.
“I’d like to also commend the DOF for presenting it in a way that [shows] the objective is not just revenue generation and upgrading of credit ratings.
The main objective is really to be able to generate funds to improve the welfare of the Filipino people, and that is really very important to us,” Diosana added.
Dominguez said the DOF will move swiftly for adjustments in the country’s 20-year-old tax system so that the government is able to raise funds for accelerated spending on infrastructure, human capital and social protection programs in keeping with President Duterte’s 10- point socioeconomic agenda for inclusive growth.
Among the organizations represented at the tax forum were the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP), Framework Convention Alliance of the Philippines, Friedich Ebert Stiflung, Bantay Kita, Coalition of Services for the Elderly Inc., Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, Philippine Coalition on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Philippine College of Physicians Foundation, The Asia Foundation, Tobacco Free Kids, Universal Health Care Study Group, USAID-FPI, Woman Health Philippines and the Freedom from Debt Coalition.
The DOF submitted to the House and the Senate its proposed Tax Reform Roadmap for Acceleration and Inclusion Act on September 26. Dominguez said the DOF tax bill was completed after the DOF consulted with members of the Cabinet, legislators, former secretaries of finance, prominent economists, stakeholder and business groups, and with various foreign embassies, global financial institutions and joint foreign chambers signifying their support for the tax-reform proposal.