March 9, 2015
Sun Star by Teresa Ellera | http://goo.gl/lrHtHg
NEGROS Occidental Third District Rep. Alfredo Benitez said the Visayan Bloc at the House of Representatives is opposing the Revenue Regulation 11-2014 that imposes one percent withholding tax on raw sugar, including molasses.
Rep. Stephen Paduano of Abang Lingkod party-listduring the Visayan Bloc meeting last March 3 said majority of the members said they are against the RR 11-2014, and they will take it up in the House.
The imposition of the BIR tax starting January 1 this year has been opposed by sugar planters and other stakeholders in the sugar industry after it caused the non-release and non- buying of sugar at the mills.
However, lawyer Jose Ric Cabrera of the Legal Department of BIR Revenue Region 12 in Bacolod City said the BIR is just following the law and those opposing it especially the small planters in the province should lobby for its repeal in Congress.
Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., along with small sugarcane planters and the Philippine Sugar Alliance (PSA), also asked the BIR to suspend the implementation of the one percent withholding tax until the next milling season.
During a recent dialogue with BIR, lawyer Enrique Tabino of the PSA pointed out that since the milling season will end in June, the BIR should suspend the implementation of RR 11-2014.
It should be implemented in the next milling season so that the small planters could prepare the required documents in getting their Taxpayer’s Identification Number (TIN), Tabino said.
Some stakeholders have been asking why is it that the BIR does not require other agriculture products the same tedious documentary requirements prior to sale.
"Why only sugar? Why not corn, peanuts, vegetables, rice and other products when we are having the same standards of living?" a small planter said.
The small planters had relayed to the BIR their difficulties in complying with the requirements of getting a TIN since they still have to secure an authenticated birth certificate that will take them about a month to comply.
Vice Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said that agrarian reform a beneficiaries’ (ARBs) cooperatives composed of small sugarcane planters should be assisted with their problems on the one percent withholding tax.
“The small planters are having problems on documentation because they used to be laborers and became landowners. So they are not used to the process while in transition, so we should help them," the vice governor said.