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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Poor must be spared from planned tax hikes—Bautista

Poor must be spared from planned tax hikes—Bautista

Published Mar 10, 2022 10:56 am

Senatorial candidate Herbert “Bistek” Bautista on Thursday opposed proposals for new and higher taxes to pay for the Philippines’ record-high debt of P12-trillion, which is projected to reach P13-trillion by the end of this year.

Bautista said the proposals made by President Duterte’s outgoing economic team would surely hit the most the poor sectors of society.

“For sure the poor will be most hit by that plan,” said Bautista, who is running for senator under the alliance of former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte.

“Let’s not make sudden moves when it comes to taxes. The people are not even starting to recover from the pandemic’s impact,” the former Quezon City mayor appealed.

The Department of Finance (DOF) had earlier proposed raising taxes and collecting new ones to pay for the record-high debt which was largely incurred due for the government’s Covid-19 response.

Under the DOF;s proposal, new duties would be collected like carbon and cryptocurrency tax. The economic team also proposed the removal of all Value Added Tax (VAT) exemptions and pruning spending on so-called non-essential projects.

But the former local chief executive said the government should study such mechanism as this could hurt the indigent sector the most.

For one, Bautista said imposing carbon tax is “not a very sound proposition considering it would add expenses to companies that generate power or supply water which, could be passed on to consumers.

“Consumers are already reeling from high utility costs...Let’s study this closely before we implement it,” he said.

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