Philippines
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Gov't urged to first improve revenue collection before raising taxes
Gov't urged to first improve revenue collection before raising taxes
Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Monday, August 14 reiterated his call for the government to first prioritize improving its collection before pursuing any plan to raise or impose new taxes.
Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero (Senate PRIB Photo)
Escudero pointed out Filipino taxpayers are already burdened amid soaring prices of basic and prime commodities.
“I really believe there’s a need to improve the tax collection first,” the senator said in Filipino in an interview on GMA-7’s “Unang Hirit.”
The senator stressed he finds nothing favorable in the new taxes being proposed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s economic managers,
Among these new taxes that President Marcos wants Congress to pass includes the excise tax on single-use plastics, expansion of the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on digital services, rationalizing the mining fiscal regime, and raising the Motor vehicle user’s charge/road user’s tax (MVRUT).
Escudero questioned the proposed road users’ tax, saying the government should first make an accounting of the revenues it generated since the law took into effect 20 years ago.
The lawmaker noted more than P140-billion were collected from the road users’ tax but taxpayers have yet to know where the funds that is supposedly earmarked for road repair and improvement have been used.
He also said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) should also intensify its tax collection campaign.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno had noted that while the Philippines has the highest VAT rate compared to the other countries in this part of the world, its VAT collection is the most inefficient at only 40 percent, the senator said.
“So why can’t we boost collection efficiency and make it 50 to 60 percent before we think of additional taxes?” Escudero pointed out.
The senator said he will thoroughly scrutinize the proposed National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2024 to identify areas in the national budget which would efficiently help the government generate funds.
“There is a definition that governance is all about allocating scarce resources. If you are able to allocate scarce resources then you governed properly,” he said.
“The national budget, the GAA (General Appropriations Act), the NEP—these are the best instrument to check if government is indeed utilizing the funds wisely and carefully,” he said.