Senior administration Rep. Antonino Roman (LP, Bataan) said he signed the endorsement for the passage of the amnesty measure "with reservation" over the inclusion of the questionable provision.
The same objection against the measure has been aired by the minority bloc led by Minority Leader Francis Escudero.
Lawmakers believe that contrary to popular belief, the amnesty bill has to pass through a legislative bottleneck for containing provisions that many lawmakers say could counteract the government’s bid to collect more revenues.
Under the consolidated bill that will be debated when Congress resumes session next month, the tax amnesty will be expended a taxpayer with pending cases before the courts for the collection of national internal revenue taxes as of Dec. 31, 2003.
However, the cases that can be subjected to amnesty should not involve fraud or any criminal offense under the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
"I signed it (the consolidated bill) with reservations because even those who have already been charged in court will benefit from it," Roman told reporters during yesterday’s Balitaan Forum at Hotel Rembrandt in Quezon City.
The amnesty proposal was the first bill endorsed for approval by the House committee on ways and means that has been conducting marathon hearings on the eight-point tax proposal that the Arroyo government has asked Congress to approve to partly solve the worsening fiscal problem.
Also approved by the House panel, chaired by Tarlac Rep. Jesli Lapus, is the lateral attrition measures that pushes for the grant of rewards to revenue and customs employe who are able to exceed target revenue collections.
In the same forum, Roman revealed that the Liberal Party will take a party stand on the proposed "sin taxes," adding that Congress should demonstrate political will in approving the right system of taxing manufacturers of cigarettes and liquor.
"We have to show political will in approving the right tax system, otherwise, inaction might downgrade our credit rating into a higher credit risk country," he said.
Roman stressed that congressmen are now divided over which tax system to adopt, particularly between ad valorem and specific taxation.
Salvador Mison, president of Fortune Tobacco Corp. (FTC), pointed out that the ad valorem system guarantees the basic constitutional requirements of taxation of being pro-poor, equitable and fair.
Mison said the ad valorem system now pending before the Lower House has provided safeguards against price underdeclaration and the use of marketing arms as a measure of tax avoidance.
He explained that the loopholes have been cured by using actual retail price as tax base.
The FTC official expressed confidence that majority of congressmen would support the ad valorem system over the specific system being proposed by its rival, Philip Morris Philippines.
