New tax amnesty bill a ‘very tall order,’ says lawyer
MANILA – Passing another general tax amnesty bill, which will include provisions to amend the bank secrecy law, is a “very tall order” with lawmakers “sensitive” on the issue, a corporate tax lawyer said Tuesday.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier called on Congress to pass another general tax amnesty bill which will include the lifting of bank secrecy for cases of fraud after he partially vetoed the Tax Amnesty Act of 2019.
“We all know that our congressmen are very sensitive on that issue. It would be a very tall order for us to pass it because they themselves will also be obliged to disclose the moment they avail of the amnesty and the moment that there are tax evasion and fraud cases that maybe filed against them,” said tax and corporate law expert Euney Mata-Perez.
Perez said it was time to liberalize the law” which has not been a very good signal for us vis-à-vis foreign investors.”
“It’s really about time we liberalize that law, provide more exceptions and at the same time provide safeguards to provide privacy of individuals,” she said. (ABS-CBN News)
