DoF: New taxes, sale of assets not needed
By Anna Leah E. Gonzales
The government is cool on introducing new taxes and selling its assets to add more funds to the Philippines’ coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic response, the Department of Finance (DoF) said on Wednesday.
In a Bloomberg interview, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said the government was “not seriously considering [imposing new] taxes. [T]axing our citizens when their incomes are down is not a good idea.”
“As to selling assets, we are not that desperate yet. And besides…most of our assets are in real estate and in mining operations. And quite frankly, the real estate market is uncertain at this point, although it has been holding quite well,” he added.
The DoF chief’s remarks came after he said during the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 46th Philippine Business Conference and Expo last week that the government was looking to revive the country’s mining industry and that his department’s Privatization Management Office recently finished reviewing its mining assets held by the government.
According to him, the government is pushing for the privatization of Nonoc Mining and Industrial Corp. in Surigao City, Surigao del Norte province, and Basay Mining Corp. in Novaliches, Quezon City. He said valuations were being updated to determine how much revenue the government could raise once these assets are privatized.
Dominguez also said there was no need for a third pandemic relief measure “at the moment.”
“We are seeing a very strong recovery as we [gradually reopen] the economy,” he added, noting that as it does, the country’s unemployment rate falls.
Latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the joblessness rate dropped to 10 percent in July, when Metro Manila and other parts of the country were placed under general community quarantine, from the record 17.7 percent in April, when Luzon was put under the stricter enhanced community quarantine.
“Our aim is to bring it down to around 5 or 6 percent,” Dominguez said.
Source: The Manila Times