SEN. Francis Joseph "Chiz" Escudero on Monday said the government should prioritize the improvement of revenue collection and anti-corruption campaigns over plans to raise taxes.
SEN. Francis Joseph “Chiz” Escudero
The senator made the proposal to avoid putting additional burdens on "overtaxed" Filipinos amid soaring prices of basic and prime commodities.
He reiterated his opposition to the new taxes being proposed by the government's economic managers that were endorsed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at his second State of the Nation Address last July 24.
"Tax collection should be improved first insofar as I am concerned," Escudero said in Filipino during a television interview.
The President had asked Congress to pass new taxes such as an excise tax on single-use plastics, expand the value-added tax (VAT) on digital services, rationalize the mining fiscal regime, and raise the Motor vehicle user's charge or road user's tax.
Citing the proposed road users' tax, Escudero said the government should make an accounting of the revenues it has generated since the law took effect 20 years ago.
"They must present first where the road users' tax were spent which was earmarked for road improvements for the benefit of motorists," he said.