Business tycoon Lance Gokongwei, president of JG Summit Holdings Inc., has joined the growing list of supporters of the Duterte administration’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) and its campaign to ensure better compliance with tax laws, the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement on Monday. Gokongwei, who heads one of the largest conglomerates in the country, recognizes the critical role that large taxpayers play in the success of President Rodrigo Duterte’s reform agenda as well as the DOF tax reform program, the statement said. “And second, a tax reform that will be equitable to our wage earners, allow the government to fund vital infrastructure and social services while enabling corporate partners to remain competitive in this global trading order,” he added. The first package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) being pushed by the DoF calls for the lowering of personal and corporate income taxes, with the goal of shifting the tax burden to the rich and large taxpayers. Former Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has separately expressed his support for the tax reform plan during a recent hearing by the House ways and means committee on the CTRP bill.

Source: Manila Times February 13, 2017 16:29 UTC