With 258 congressmen voting "yes", the House approved on third and final reading Monday afternoon, Nov. 14 the fourth package of the government’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).
Formerly known as the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act (PIFITA), the fourth package of the CTRP or House Bill (HB) No.4339 had earlier been identified as a priority measure of the current Marcos administration.
Deputy Speaker and Davao City 3rd district Rep. Isidro Ungab, who presided over Monday's session, said only three House members opposed the passage of the bill on third reading. There were no abstentions.
A proponent of the measure, Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda, earlier said that he expects HB No.4339 to generate P20 billion for the government, mainly from the removal of the tax exemption on pickup trucks and raising the tax rate on foreign currency deposit units to 20 percent.
It can be recalled that the auto industry had been up in arms over the proposed lifting of this tax exemption.
But the House Committee on Ways and Means chairman said the move "merely corrects an unfair privilege on a vehicle that is mostly for the rich, occupies very large space on the road, and is by all accounts less fuel-efficient than most other vehicles".
The bill also seeks to simplify taxation of passive income by reducing rates applicable and harmonizing most rates at 15 percent.
It also proposes a gross receipts tax on bank, quasi-bank and other nonbank financial intermediary income of 5 percent, a premium tax of 2 percent, and a stock transaction tax of 0.1 percent.
Furthermore, HB No.4339 intends to rationalize the documentary stamp tax (DST) regime by imposing a single rate on the original issue of shares and units of participation of collective investment schemes.
The measure also seeks to remove the DST on documents required for routine transactions.
The three Makabayan bloc solons in the House--ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel--voted "no" during nominal voting on the bill.