PNoy asked to certify as urgent bill exempting toll from VAT

The chairperson of the House committee which approved last week the bill exempting toll operations from the 12-percent value added tax (VAT) has asked President Benigno Aquino III to certify the measure as urgent. In a letter dated October 4, Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas, House committee on ways and means chairperson, requested Aquino to facilitate the immediate enactment of House Bill (HB) 5382. The proposed legislation seeks to amend provisions of Republic Act 8424 or the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 to exempt toll operations from VAT. "This exemption of the toll way fees from the 12-percent VAT will be a much needed economic reprieve for the Filipino people," Mandanas said in his letter. Mandanas also cited "the massive public outpour of disapproval on the implementation of the 12-percent VAT on toll fees" last October 1 as reason to immediately pass the bill. Last week, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) started collecting tax on toll three months after the Supreme Court allowed the VAT imposition, citing the absence of laws preventing such a move. Just four days after the start of the collection, however, the House panel unanimously approved HB 5382, citing the public’s “deafening cry" against the tax on toll. The government, for its part, said that it will lose P2.2 billion in revenues per year if the imposition of the VAT on toll way operations will be stopped. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMA News