THE administration’s proposed tax reform program will not impact entrepreneurs negatively, specifically micro enterprises, including those in Negros Occidental, an official of the Department Trade and Industry (DTI) said.
Trade and Industry Assistant Secretary for Regional Operations Group Blesila Lantayona, who was in Bacolod City Thursday for the launching of “Kapatid Mentor Me” program, said micro enterprises are already exempted from taxes as provided in the Barangay Micro Business Enterprise (BMBE) Act of 2002.
Under the proposed tax reform of the Duterte administration, they are still entitled to the same incentives unlike small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and larger companies, Lantayona said.
“It won’t hurt the micro entrepreneurs as long as they are registered as BMBEs,” Lantayona said, adding that the agency has been urging micro scale businesses to register.
There are those still hiding and opt to remain underground, the DTI official noted.
DTI-Negros Occidental records showed that of the thousands of micro enterprises in the province, only 51 are registered as BMBEs.
Thus, part of the agency’s measure to cover all local micro enterprises, the BMBE registration will now be among the services of the DTI’s Negosyo Centers starting this year.
Previously, the BMBE registration is conducted by the local government units.
The House of Representatives last month passed on third and final reading the tax reform bill endorsed by President Rodrigo Duterte, which mainly seeks to boost the country’s infrastructure program.
The Senate has yet to pass its counterpart legislation before the president can sign it into law.
Among the proposed new taxes included in the bill drafted by the Department of Finance are excise tax on fuel products, excise tax on particular automobiles, expanded value-added tax (VAT) coverage, and abolition of special laws granting VAT exemptions to several sectors.
Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III had earlier said the proposed tax reform program will boost the employment condition in the country.
Bello said the measure will not hit the employees, but the big businessmen.
“It will not lead to the reduction of employment in the country,” he said.
Meanwhile, for SMEs to cope with the possible effects of the tax reform, the DTI said they need to scale up especially in terms of saturating bigger markets.
“It is a reality in the business environment which they have to cope with, it is part of their expense items,” Asteria Caberte, regional director of DTI-Negros Island Region, said.
