PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte signed on Tuesday a tax reform bill reducing income taxes and increasing fuel and other excise taxes, as well as the P3.77-trillion national budget that seeks to upgrade the country’s infrastructure. Equivalent to more than a fifth of gross domestic product (GDP), the 2018 budget will support the government’s objective of 7 to 8 percent GDP growth in 2018, the Budget department said. Tax reformThe tax measure, the first package of tax reforms that the Duterte administration plans to implement, exempts those earning P250,000 or less in a year from paying income taxes. “It will spare 99 percent of our population from the payment of income taxes because those earning not more than P250,000 per annum will now be tax exempt,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. told reporters. Of the P120 billion worth of government revenues that the tax reform law is expected to generate, 70 percent will be earmarked for infrastructure projects while the remaining 30 percent will go to social services.

Source: Manila Times December 19, 2017 16:52 UTC