No tax break for traders hit by ‘Yolanda’

UTILITY man Bobong Guron, 38, helps clean an appliance store in downtown Tacloban City, where businessmen hoped for a tax relief, but spurned by tax officials. RICHARD A. REYES

TACLOBAN CITY—Businessmen here who are expecting heavy losses from Supertyphoon Yolanda cannot expect any relief from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said businessmen in the city, although certain to suffer losses as a result of the storm, could not be given a tax holiday because it would violate the country’s laws.

Henares met with businessmen in the city on Tuesday at the Leyte Sports Development Complex, which serves as the command post of the multiagency Task Force Yolanda.

“But we can be very considerate,” Henares said. She, however, did not elaborate on what she meant by being considerate.

Henry Cua, head of the Leyte Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said despite the businessmen’s failure to win a tax holiday from the BIR, they were not disappointed.

“The discussion was productive. We just hope that our government will also understand us. We have no stocks to sell. We were affected. We just hope that they will offer soft loans to us,” Cua said.

Jack Uy, head of the Tacloban Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said his group would also ask the government for loans with low interest rates.

Uy said the loans would help businessmen purchase new stocks to replace the ones they lost to looters.

“This will help hasten our economic recovery,” Uy said.

In the same meeting, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the government was amenable to the appeal for soft loans. He said, however, that this would still be studied.

Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez expressed sympathy for the businessmen although he said he was not in favor of a tax moratorium.

Romualdez said the city government relies heavily on taxes from the business community and from its internal revenue allotment (IRA).

He said the city gets P400 million from local taxes and a similar amount from the IRA.

Granting a tax holiday to businessmen would further reduce the city’s income, Romualdez said.

The mayor estimated a 50-percent reduction in the city’s income as a result of Yolanda.