Aside from budget, Senate to prioritize CREATE, FIST bills in coming weeks —Sotto

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Friday said the corporate income tax reform bill and a measure to ease the sale of non-performing assets of financial institutions are next in the Senate's order of priorities after the 2021 budget.

After the 2021 General Appropriations Bill, the Senate will focus on the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) bill and the Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) in the coming weeks, Sotto said.

The CREATE bill seeks a reduction in the corporate income tax rate from the current 30% to 25%. This will further be reduced by 1 percentage point every year from 2023 to 2027 until it goes down to just 20%.

This bill is a tweaked version of the proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Reform Act (CITIRA), now taking into consideration the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, the FIST bill aims to create specialized asset-managing corporations that would acquire "bad loans and stagnant properties" from embattled financial institutions.

The House of Representatives has already approved counterpart versions of the two proposed measures.

Sotto said the Senate may be able to act on the two bills before the year ends.

"There are lulls while Budget Bicam is ongoing, we might be able to get it through," the Senate president said in a message to reporters.

Asked whether the Senate is inclined to support the proposed measure for the Magna Carta of Barangay Workers, Sotto said: "Yes but will check on the budget necessary."

The House-approved 2021 General Appropriations Bill was transmitted to the Senate last week.

The appropriations bill proposes a P4.506-trillion budget for next year.

"This record-high budget was designed to further strengthen government response and stimulate economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic," House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said on October 27.—AOL, GMA News