TRAIN May Only Yield Two Thirds Of Expected Revenue

Written by Marc Adrian

According to the Department of Finance earlier this week, the final version of the tax reform bill may only yield two-thirds of the ₱134 billion in additional revenue programmed under the new measure.

In a statement made by Finances Secretary Carlos Domingues III, he said that the final approved version of the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) is expected to generate only a fraction of the expected revenues. The government’s 2018 budget program projected a ₱134 billion revenue for the TRAIN bill.

Despite this, Dominguez remained optimistic that the government would be able to raise enough funds for its infrastructure, human capital development and social protection projects as additional provisions are set to be discussed by the Congress next year. They are set to tackle the remaining one-third in early 2018 to complete the first package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP).

In addition to this, the Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the remaining one-third will involve provisions on the estate tax amnesty, a general tax amnesty, the adjustments in the Motor Vehicle Users Charge, amendments in the bank secrecy law and automatic exchange of information.

[Source]