March 4, 2015
Sun Star by Carla Canet | http://goo.gl/2Brs2l
BACOLOD City Mayor Monico Puentevella said on Tuesday that he plans to meet with Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) commissioner Kim Henares on Thursday to discuss the tax woes of the small sugar planters in Negros Occidental in relation to the implementation of Revenue Regulation 11-2014.
RR 11-2014 imposes one percent creditable withholding tax on the release of raw sugar.
“I will try in my own small capacity to see Commissioner Henares who is an old friend of mine, and find out what is a probable solution in the problem of the sugar industry. I will try to talk to her and maybe invite her to come to Bacolod,” the mayor said.
The BIR Region 12 in Bacolod City has denied the call of small sugarcane planters to suspend the implementation of the one percent withholding tax until the next milling season. [Read the related story here.]
Lawyer Jose Ric Cabrera of the BIR Region 12 Legal Department said they are not giving in to the appeal of the small planters to suspend the implementation of the revenue regulation.
They are only complying and implementing the law and it should be Congress that will repeal it, he added.
Cabrera said they will consult with Henares the concerns aired by the small planters during the dialogue held Monday.
Small planters, including those who belong to agrarian reform beneficiaries’ cooperatives, had earlier staged a noise barrage in front of the BIR Revenue Region 12 compound in Bacolod to call for the scrapping of RR 11-2014.
Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. is also supporting the call of small sugarcane planters along with the Philippine Sugar Alliance (PSA).
“The BIR has to resolve the issue. I believe the BIR will lose in the issue that's why the sugar planters should bring the matter to the court," Marañon said.