An economic expert in the Congress has given his all-out support to the comprehensive tax program proposed by the Department of Finance (DOF) to carry out President Duterte’s 10-point agenda focused on sustaining high economic growth and making its benefits inclusive for all Filipinos.

Vowing his full backing behind the tax program, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, said the plan was much better than the one presented by the previous administration.

“Sir, you have my ardent support, and I’m sure my chairman will have the same…. I would like to congratulate you for your latest tax reform measure. It’s a very good measure,” Salceda told Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III during the organizational meeting held by the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives to discuss the DOF’s proposed tax reform program.

The committee is chaired by Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua. Salceda, a former Albay governor, is senior vice chairman of the committee.

Dominguez thanked Salceda for his support, saying that it was “very heartening” coming from the congressman, who is considered an expert in the field of economics.

Although Salceda is a neophyte congressman in the 17th Congress, he had previously served the legislature in the 11th Congress, holding the chairmanship of the Committees on Trade and Industry and the vice chairmanships of the Ways and Means and Economic Affairs committees.

A former foreign fund manager and economic analyst acknowledged by his peers as an expert in these fields, Salceda was also the principal author of several key measures in the House that were designed to protect domestic farmers from the negative effects of the Philippines’ membership in the World Trade Organization.

Salceda, showing his enthusiasm for the DOF’s tax reform plan, even suggested during the hearing that it be renamed “Fiscal Roadmap to Acceleration and Inclusion” to highlight its primary goal of raising revenues for the government’s accelerated spending program on infrastructure, human capital and social protection for the country’s vulnerable sectors, while reducing income tax rates to put more money in the pockets of wage-earners plus low- and middle-income taxpayers and further stimulate economic growth.

At the same briefing, Dominguez told the legislators that the DOF has “put the packages together so that there will be a balance between revenue-eroding measures and revenue-enhancing measures.”

Dominguez told the House panel that the final tax reform plan that will be presented to the Congress this month will “comprise four packages. Each of the packages will correspond to a bill that balances policy trade-offs. Other packages may be considered as needed.”

“Today, the Philippines has among the highest tax rates in the region and among, as I said earlier, the narrowest tax bases,” he said during the hearing. “Our goal is to correct this inequity and the resulting distortions by moving to a low tax rate, low broad base tax regime.”

“We will lower personal income tax rates towards the regional average, so that the middle- and lower-income classes will have more money in their pockets while expanding the base consumption taxes by limiting VAT exemptions to only raw food, health and education,” he said.

“To be successful, we must emphasize that the tax policy reform program needs to be part of a larger reform program that includes: one, reforming tax administration at the BIR and the BOC (Bureaus of Internal Revenue and of Customs); two, improving governance and reforming the budget; three, leveling the playing field by enhancing competition; four, simplifying business regulations; five, securing property rights; six, promoting food security, and; seven, addressing traffic, crime and vice,” Dominguez said.