Palace warns Senate not to derail TRAIN

Malacañang yesterday warned the Senate that derailing the administration’s proposed tax reform program would have dire economic consequences for the country, including increasing public debt.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the revenues that would be raised by the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) were intended to fund the government’s ambitious economic program.

“Without these revenues, we would have to incur even more debt to finance our economic growth agenda, thereby endangering our investment grade rating, raising our borrowing costs, and limiting our access to financial markets,” Abella told a press briefing.

“We therefore hope that Congress, especially the Senate, realizes these consequences from any wrong decision that they may make,” he added.

Abella reiterated the Palace’s appreciation of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham) for throwing its support behind the proposed tax reform program.

“We hope as we believe the American chamber and other business groups will also agree that the final tax reform bill to be approved by Congress will deliver all revenues needed to fund the President’s agenda for ambitious investments in both our fiscal capital and our human capital,” he said.

On Friday, the Department of Finance (DOF) issued a statement saying that AmCham had expressed its support for the first package of the Duterte administration’s comprehensive tax reform program.

The DOF said that AmCham supports the bill not only because the additional revenues would be used to put up badly needed infrastructure.