FREEPORT AREA OF BATAAN – House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo addressed on Thursday afternoon the concerns of investors/locators at the Freeport Area of Bataan (FAB) on the proposed 2nd package of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.
Mrs. Arroyo personally met with the investors of this Freeeport zone together with officials from Department of Finance, Undersecretary Karl Chua and Bataan local officials headed by Governor Abet Garcia, 2nd District Rep. Jose Enrique “Joet” Garcia III, Mariveles Mayor Ace Jello Concepcion and Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan Chairman and Administrator Emmanuel Pineda.
Among the provisions of the 2nd package of the tax reform law include the lowering of corporate income tax of micro, small and medium enterprises, and the rationalization of investment tax incentives.
“Merong binabanggit ang DOF na performance-based, hopefully, katulad ng FAB na maganda yung performance, (sana) mas bigyan natin ng leeway nang sa ganon mas marami pang investors na ma-attract,” Gov. Garcia told the press in an interview.
Congressman Joet Garcia further added,” We can also come up with some amendments that will be win-win for both the revenue generation side of the government and at the same time sa job generation side ng ating bansa.”
In a related report, some Senators recently said they will not be swayed by calls to rush the passage of the Duterte administration’s second package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN 2) law, apparently shaken by an international think tank’s opinion that the second tax-reform bill will hurt the inflow of investments to the country.
BMI Research in a published report noted that the second tax-reform bill could derail the inflow of investments because the removal of tax incentives will more than negate the encouraging impact of the reduction in corporate income-taxes.
“Dahil dun sa mga investors mas maraming trabaho yung nadala sa ating bayan at kung mawawala po yung mga investors natin dahil sa pag alis ng mga incentives at iba pang nakapaloob sa TRAIN 2, mawawalan din po ng trabaho yung ating mga kababayan,” Mayor Concepcion lamented.