Duterte’s economic managers not concerned about below-target yield from TRAIN

Economic managers of the Duterte administration were unfazed by lower revenue from the recently approved the tax reform program, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said.

“We are not really concerned about the revenue impact ... kasi there will be a package that will approved in the first quarter of next,” Diokno told reporters during a forum in Manila City.

“Tawag nila diyan is package 1-A, so what was left will be taken up by Congress in first quarter of next year,” he said.

The untackled items from the first package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) bill are expected to somehow raise enough funds for the government’s infrastructure and human capital development initiatives.

The remaining provisions in the tax reform package include tax amnesty, tax administration, and amendments to the bank secrecy law, Diokno said.

President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 10963 or the TRAIN bill into law, which exempts those earning below P250,000 from paying income tax and adjusts excise taxes on fuel and automobiles as revenue compensating measures.

The additional revenue from the new tax reform law is around P90 billion in its first year of implementation, compared with the original target P134 billion.

“We are not really concerned about that, kasi nga there will be a package that will be tackled and we expect that to be approved in the first quarter of 2018,” Diokno said. — VDS, GMA News