Business groups back fourth revision of the corporate tax bill
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Makati Business Club on Monday said they support the revised bill seeking to lower corporate income taxes and reform fiscal incentives.
The Finance Department recently said that it had recalibrated the proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act (CITIRA) in light of the economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new proposal will be called Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE), and is “more responsive to small businesses negatively affected by the pandemic.”
CREATE is the fourth version of the corporate tax bill, which started as TRAIN 2 (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) before being rebranded as TRABAHO (Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities), and then as CITIRA.
Business groups, particularly those in the business process outsourcing (BPO) and export-oriented industries, had opposed earlier versions of the bill, saying it removes fiscal incentives needed to keep the Philippines competitive, and could lead to job losses.
