THERE is a reason many previous Congresses enacted laws granting incentives of various kinds to some 3,000 enterprises and organizations in the country, such as exemption from various taxes.
Incentives were granted to the renewable energy sector to encourage the development of such power sources as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass, so as to lessen the country’s dependence on traditional – and environment-polluting – power sources such as oil, gas, and coal.
Incentives in the form of lower taxes were granted to educational institutions and hospitals, so they could help the poor who cannot afford some of the services of modern health.
Incentives in the form of tax exemptions were granted to hundreds of foreign enterprises to encourage them to set up businesses in the country’s export processing zones, where they hired thousands of employees and produced products that boosted the nation’s exports.
And incentives were granted to the country’s publishing industry from the Expanded Value-Added Tax in recognition of the significant role of books as “instrumental in the citizenry’s intellectual, technical, and cultural development – the basic social foundation for the economic and social growth of the country,” in the words of the Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets & Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists).
These are among the incentives now proposed to be removed by TRAIN 2, the second bill seeking to raise government revenue, while reforming the tax system. TRAIN 2 would lower corporate tax rates but raise new revenues by repealing various tax exemptions and incentives of all kinds enacted over the years.
One by one, various groups in the country have come out to protest the moves to remove all these tax exemptions and other incentives. There is fear that the country’s push for greater renewable energy, as part of its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, will be set back. Many schools and hospitals will have to cut their services to the poor. Many foreign firms are now poised to move to other countries offering the incentives they are about to lose.
We are especially concerned by the inclusion in TRAIN 2 of a provision repealing Section 1 of the Book Publishing Industry Development Act enacted in 1995, which grants tax exemptions to book publishing. Many people around the world no longer read books because of the growing dominance of social media and television as sources of information, but books remain a key part of human history and of human life.
“Books, despite technological developments, are still the most effective and economical tools in growing education, disseminating information, and preserving and enriching the nation’s cultural heritage,” PEN said in its appeal to Congress. We join the many sectors that value books in this appeal.
