MAS MABABANG BUWIS SA ‘STOCK TRANSACTIONS’ IMINUNGKAHI

UPANG mapalakas ang capital market at tumaas ang investment competitiveness ng bansa, iminungkahi ni AnaKalusugan Party-list Rep. Ray Reyes na mabawasan ang ipinapataw na buwis sa iba’t-ibang stock transactions.

Sa pagsalang sa plenaryo ng Kamara sa inihain niyang House Bill No. 9277, binigyan-diin ni Reyes na kinakailangang ang agarang pagtugon ng pamahalaan upang maging competitive ang bansa sa hanay ng iba pang ASEAN countries pagdating sa sektor ng stocks o capital market.

“There is a sense of urgency that we be immediately competitive with other regions, especially our ASEAN neighbors. The Philippines is the country with the highest stock transaction tax in the ASEAN, while remaining 2nd to the last in market capitalization,” sabi pa ni Reyes.

“If we do not do this, we may be overtaken by Vietnam and be the last in the ASEAN 6 in terms of market capitalization,” dugtong ng AnaKalusugan party-list lawmaker.

Ayon kay Reyes, sa ilalim ng kanyang HB 9277, isinusulong nito ang pag-amyenda sa Tax Code, partikular ang pagbaba mula sa kasalukuyang 0.6 percent na buwis sa stock transactions ay gawing itong 0.1 percent na lamang ng stock value.

Maging ang buwis na ipinapataw sa dividends ng foreign non-residents ay iminumungkahi ng mambabatas na mula sa 25 percent ay maging 10 percent na lamang.

Ani Reyes, sa kasalukuyan, ang transaction tax sa Indonesia, Malaysia, at Vietnam ay nasa 0.1 percent, habang sa Thailand ay nasa 0.11 percent lamang, at sa Singapore naman ay 0 percent.

“It’s not just a matter of compliance but the matter of urgency to compete. This is an institutionalized measure of the country where it is the best way to compete for foreign investors and local investors so that any transaction in the stock market will be taxed less. This will incentivize them to come into the market,” paggigiit ni Reyes.

“Vietnam is already at 0.1 percent and slowly approaching the Philippines in terms of market capitalization,” dagdag pa niya.

Sinabi ni Reyes na base sa ilang pag-aaral, lumalabas na ang pagpapababa sa transaction tax ay nagdudulot ng net positive effect sa transaction volume.

Inihalimbawa niya ang Taiwan na matapos na magpatupad ng transaction tax reduction na mula 0.5 percent ay ginawang 0.25 percent, nagkaroon ng 6.33 times na pagtaas sa kanilang transaction volume.

“Using the same arithmetic, we can increase our transaction volume more than 6.33x. But more than that, we hope that this measure would encourage our kababayans to learn more about the financial market and have more Filipinos participate in the capital market,” sabi pa ni Reyes.