New taxes are still a possibility, as the Department of Finance (DOF) clarified that the Marcos administration is just currently not keen on introducing additional tax proposals, apart from its existing priority tax measures.

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said the DOF is not developing new tax proposals, but remains focused on pushing for the passage of the recalibrated Package 4 of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).

What the DOF can guarantee is that this refined tax measure is fairer, easier to collect, and more practical, without imposing unnecessary burdens on Filipino consumers and taxpayers, Recto said.

Finance Assistant Secretary Karlo S. Adriano recently briefed the Senate on the key elements of Recto's revised proposal. 

Adriano said that the updated version seeks to preserve the structure of certain products and instruments, while postponing the enforcement of specific provisions until 2028 or until the government's fiscal position improves.

Under Package 4, the interest income tax will be harmonized at 20 percent, while royalties will be maintained according to the existing tax code until 2027, subsequently harmonized and decreased to 15 percent in 2028. 

Similarly, the dividend income tax will remain unchanged until 2027, with a proposed harmonization of 10 percent in 2028. 

On the other hand, the stock transaction tax will gradually be reduced annually by 0.1 percent, from 0.6 percent to 0.1 percent in 2028.

Current taxes on financial transactions, including sales, agreements to sell, memoranda of sales, deliveries, or transfer of shares or certificates of stocks, will be maintained until 2027 and subsequently removed in 2028. 

The same timeline applies to taxes on all bills of exchange or drafts.

Tax rates on bank checks, drafts, certificates of deposit not bearing interest, and other instruments will remain unchanged, while those of life insurance policies will also see no adjustments.

On the other hand, rates on policies of insurance upon property, fidelity bonds, and other insurance policies will gradually be decreased annually by one percent, from 12.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2028.

Furthermore, taxes on Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) tickets, prizes, and other winnings will have no changes.

Lastly, taxes on mortgages, pledges, and deeds of trust will stay as is until 2027, after which they will be lowered to a 0.3 percent rate in 2028.

“The idea here is that [CTRP] was proposed during the pandemic when our debt to GDP ratio was approximately at 40 percent. Basically, during that time, the government has some fiscal space to accommodate some of the losses, but given that we’re already beyond the COVID where our debt-to-GDP ratio is around 60 percent, we have to be mindful of the impact of having revenue-eroding measures,” Adriano said.

The proposed changes to taxes on passive income, financial intermediaries, financial transactions, and excise tax on pick-up trucks are expected to yield P12.2 billion in revenues from the third quarter of 2024 to 2028, versus the P83 billion foregone revenue from the original version of the bill and the P19.3 billion revenue loss from the House version.