Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said, the government's planned comprehensive tax reform package has the potential to "free" six million Filipinos from poverty over the next six years, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III claimed on Tuesday.
"Our mandate is to take on the more challenging path. Building on solid fundamentals, we must immediately bring relief to all Filipinos burdened with oppressive tax rates," he said in an emailed statement.
"That translates into liberating six million Filipinos from the grip of poverty. We intend to transform our country from a lower middle-income to an upper middle-income economy," he added.
The comprehensive tax reform package is part of the Duterte administration's 10-point economic agenda the government's economic team revealed in June.
"Our mandate is to take on the more challenging path. Building on solid fundamentals, we must immediately bring relief to all Filipinos burdened with oppressive tax rates," he said in an emailed statement.
"That translates into liberating six million Filipinos from the grip of poverty. We intend to transform our country from a lower middle-income to an upper middle-income economy," he added.
The comprehensive tax reform package is part of the Duterte administration's 10-point economic agenda the government's economic team revealed in June.
The first package of proposals – reducing the personal income tax and expanding the value-added tax base – was submitted to Congress in September.
The Department of Finance (DOF) earlier said four out of five taxpayers are going to benefit from such proposals, as 4.7 million taxpayers will no longer have to pay income tax starting 2018.
The goal is also in line with the "AmBisyon Natin 2040," the 25-year vision of the National Economic and Development Authority to eliminate hunger and poverty in the country. -