CLARK FREEPORT -- Taxes of locators inside the Freeport will increase from the five percent of Gross Income Earned to 26 percent representing Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and local government taxes under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law Package 2.
This was raised by officers and members of the Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA) during their fellowship meeting at the Fontana Leisure Park yesterday.
CILA President Frankie Villanueva said the new tax reform program will kill a lot of investors inside the Freeport and other economic zones in the country.
Villanueva said the association supports the effort of the national government to raise money to fund its infrastructure development programs.
But the effects of the Train Law to the business sector particularly Clark locators will result to more serious problems.
"We realize that the government needs to raise money for the Build Build Build program and we support the administration's thrust to create more jobs," Villanueva said.
"However, to address these issues it is not right to kill the golden goose that lays the golden eggs," he added.
Villanueva said that the country needs to encourage foreign direct investments (FDIs) to create more jobs and improve its tax collection efficiency to support infrastructure projects.
A lot of investors are now transferring to other countries and suspending their expansion programs in the Philippines, he added.
The issue will also aggravate the unemployment problem in the country, according to Villanueva.
"So what do we propose? If we want more money and employment, we should get more FDIs. The more foreign investments we get, the more employment we have. The more exports we have, the more tax revenues we shall get," Villanueva said.
