Philippine Asian News Today Vol 20 No 24 | Page 13

December 16 - 31, 2018
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
13
“BASURA NYO,
HAHAKUTIN KO”
Remittances grew by 8.7% in October
Money sent home by Filipinos
working overseas climbed 8.7 percent
in October to $2.5 billion from a year
ago, the fastest growth in six months,
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor
Nestor Espenilla Jr. said Monday.
Espenilla said in a statement
the top sources that contributed to
the increase were the United States,
Canada, and Taiwan.
The figure brought total cash
remittances in the first 10 months to
$23.8 billion, or 3.1 percent higher
than $23.1 billion registered in the
same period in 2017.
“Cash remittances from both
land-based [$18.7 billion] and sea-
based [$5 billion] workers grew by 2.8
percent and 4.2 percent year-on-year,
respectively,” Espenilla said.
“By country source, 79 percent
of the total cash remittances for the
first 10 months of 2018 came from
the US, Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, Singapore, Japan, United
Kingdom, Qatar, Canada, Germany,
and Hong Kong,” Espenilla said.
Personal remittances, which
include non-cash items, also grew
8 percent in October to $2.8 billion
from $2.6 billion a year ago, also the
fastest in six months.
Personal remittances in the first
10 months hit $26.5 billion, up 2.9
percent year-on-year.
Personal remittances from land-
based workers with work contracts of
one year or more rose 2.8 percent to
$20.3 billion, while those from sea-
based and land-based workers with
work contracts of less than one year
increased 4.2 percent to $5.5 billion.
Government economic managers
expect remittances to grow 3 percent,
taking into consideration the pace of
global economic growth. In 2017,
money sent home by overseas
Filipinos reached a record $28.06
billion, up 4.3 percent from $26.90
billion in 2016.
The higher cash remittances in
2017 was supported by the increase
in transfers from both land-based and
sea-based workers by 4 percent and
5.4 percent, respectively.(J.G. Rada,
MT)
Tax relief a signature away; to raise P41B
The government is expected
to raise up to P41 billion from a
tax amnesty program that grants
those who have failed to pay
for taxable year 2017 and prior
years a one-time opportunity to
settle tax obligations including
estate taxes, general taxes and
delinquent accounts.
The Senate ratified on
Thursday the bicameral report on
the tax amnesty bill. The Lower
House ratified the measure on
Wednesday.
The measure is now ready for
President Duterte’s signature to
become a law.
For general tax amnesty, the
bicam panel agreed that taxpayers
would be given the option to
choose the rate between 2 percent
of total assets or 5 percent of net
worth or a minimum tax.
“This will give taxpayers
more flexibility, which would
encourage them more to avail of
the amnesty,” said Sen. Sonny
Angara said who sponsored the
bill at the Senate.
Taxpayers can avail of a
reprieve from all estate taxes, and
instead pay 6 percent based on
the decedent’s total net estate.
The bill also covers an amnesty
on delinquencies. Taxpayers
can avail of 40 percent of the
basic tax for delinquencies and
assessments which have become
final and executory, 50 percent
for cases subject of final and
executory judgment by the courts,
and 60 percent for those subject
of pending criminal cases.
Taxpayers will be given
a year from the issuance of
the implementing rules and
regulations to avail of the amnesty,
except for estate tax amnesty
where taxpayers will be given two
years to avail.
Discounts will be granted for
early availers.
Those who avail of the
amnesty program will be immune
from payment of all taxes and
the filing of civil, criminal,
and administrative cases and
penalties.
He said the bill, if passed
into law, will simplify the 80 tax
base and rate combinations
in the financial sector that are
dependent on various factors
and conditions such as type of
product, type of lending, issuer,
currency, maturity, taxpayer,
residency, business status, and
various special laws resulting in
the multiple rates, even among
comparable financial instruments
and transactions. ( Angela Celis
and Irma Isip, Malaya)
Elections, reform fatigue seen delaying tax reforms
The midterm elections and
foot-dragging could continue
to delay the passage of the
Duterte administration’s pending
tax reform measures, Japan’s
Nomura said.
“The midterms will likely pose
some uncertainty to the prospects
for fiscal reform through the rest
of President [Rodrigo] Duterte’s
administration,” Nomura said in a
recent report.
“There are signs of reform
fatigue as the implementation
of Package 1 led to some public
backlash and the perception that
it contributed to this year’s surge
in inflation,” it added.
The 17th Congress has
so far passed just one of the
Duterte government’s tax reform
packages, the Tax Reform for
Acceleration and Inclusion (Train)
Act that took effect at the start of
the year.
The law, which provided
income tax exemptions for those
earning P250,000 and below and
sought to make up for the revenue
loss by imposing new taxes on fuel
and sugar-sweetened beverages,
among others, has been blamed
for stoking inflation, which blew
past the 2.0-4.0 target in March
and hit a nine-year high of 6.7
percent in September.
Package 2, which calls for the
gradual lowering of corporate
income taxes and the streamlining
of incentives offered to investors,
was approved by the House of
Representatives in September but
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has been held up in the Senate
over concerns that the loss of
perks could lead to job losses and
turn off investors.
The Senate’s counterpart
version, the proposed Corporate
Income Tax and Incentives Reform
Act, remains pending at the ways
and means committee. Economic
managers had wanted a final bill
approved by the end of 2018 at
the latest. (M. Caraballo, TMT)