August 1 - 15, 2016
BUSINESS NEWS
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
BOC gets list of alleged
big-time smugglers
A consumer group on
Tuesday submitted to the Bureau
of Customs (BOC) a list of
suspected big-time smugglers,
urging Commissioner Nicanor
Faeldon to immediately address
the issue of corruption plaguing
the agency.
The
United
Filipino
Consumers and Commuters
(UFCC) as well as Volunteers
Against Crime and Corruption
(VACC) submitted documents
to the BOC, naming around
30 individuals linked to the
smuggling of cement and other
imported products.
The groups urged the
commissioner to investigate
former and current employees as
well as businessmen and other
personalities allegedly involved
in smuggling which causes the
government to lose P200 billion
in revenues from smuggling
every year.
However,
UFCC
spokesperson Rodolfo Javellana
Jr. declined to identify the people
in the list as it would jeopardize
the campaign against smugglers
who may leave the country to
avoid prosecution.
He said Faeldon should be
the one to divulge the identities
of the alleged smugglers.
Faeldon admitted that the
agency does not have enough
B5
PNT Foreign Exchange
$1.00 Cdn = P36.09 Php
facilities and equipment to
implement better anti-smuggling
measures. However, he remains
confident that corruption in the
Bureau can be eradicated.
He said the inability of
previous heads of the BOC to
stop corruption in the bureau
stems from the fact that they
were also part of the culture.
“I think the weakness of the
past leaders of the Bureau is they
are also part of the culture. You
have to set the standards of your
goal in trying to fix the bureau
or to eradicate corruption,” he
said.(A.C. B. Geducos, mb)
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DoF wants corporate tax reduced to 25%
The Finance Department
plans to implement the tax
reform package within the
first three years of the Duterte
administration.
Finance Secretary Carlos
Dominguez III told reporters the
agency proposed to reduce the
corporate income tax rate from
30 percent to 25 percent to
attract more foreign investors.
“The first thing they look
at is the headline tax rates. Ours
is, right now, at 30 percent and in
other areas, it is much less than
that,” Dominguez said.
He said along with the
plan to reduce corporate income
taxes, the department wanted
to reduce individual income tax
rate, as promised by President
Rodrigo Duterte in his first state
of the nation address.
“Our plan is to reduce the
tax rates over three years from 30
percent to 25 percent. We will do
the same for individual income
tax rates. So that will be done.
Incidentally, we will do the same
for individual tax rates,” he said.
Dominguez said the
agency also planned to adjust
the tax tables which was last
amended in 1997. “We hope to
be able to adjust it with inflation
and the top tax rate will be much
higher than P500,000 a year,” he
said.
The current individual
income tax bracket was set
in 1997. A Filipino employee
earning a little over P500,000
is taxed 32 percent while his
Thai counterpart earning the
equivalent income is only taxed
10 percent.
“We are also planning to
reduce the tax rate for individuals
from 32 percent down to 25
percent over time again, maybe
in two to three years,” Dominguez
said.
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“These our plans. We
have to go to the House and the
Senate, so we have a big fight
coming along. Next week, we
are going to start to argue with
our friends at the House and
Senate,” he said.
Dominguez said the
tax reform package is set to
be submitted to the House of
Representatives on Aug. 22. (G.
Binaday, MS)