UP professor proposes corporate income tax reduction, rationalization of incentives

The UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS) and the UP School of Economics hosted the public lecture “A Review of Corporate Income Tax Policy in the Philippines” with Dr. Stella Luz A. Quimbo as part of the President Edgardo J. Angara (PEJA) Fellowship lecture series. Held at the Room 125 of the UP School of Economics last June 15, 2016, the lecture addressed the issues in taxation, particularly in corporate income tax (CIT), and the relations among incentives, efforts, and investments.

Dr. Quimbo is one of the five fellows awarded the previous year and is a professor at the UP School of Economics and commissioner of the Philippine Competition Commission. Her specializations and research interests cover microeconomics, health economics, industrial organization, econometrics, and public economics.

 In attendance were former UP President and Senator Edgardo J. Angara, Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, and Ways and Means Committee Chair of the House of Representatives Romero “Miro” Quimbo, one of the co-authors of “Do Investments Respond to Taxation and Incentives? Evidence from the Philippines,” the basis of the lecture. The program was opened by UP School of Economics dean Orville Jose C. Solon, and Dr. Jose Wendell Capili, AVP of the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs, delivered UP President Alfredo E. Pascual’s message in his stead. Senator Edgardo J. Angara also shared his remarks regarding issues in taxation and how they can benefit from Dr. Quimbo’s study.

In the lecture, Dr. Quimbo discusses tax reforms, tax incentives, and tax efforts. She also explains the use of the accelerator model of investments to “assess the responsiveness of industry investments to changes in tax rates and incentives.” Based on the findings, Quimbo calls for tax reforms which include the consideration of lowering CIT and rationalization of fiscal incentives, among others.

The lecture’s discussants, Synergeia Foundation CEO Dr. Milwida M. Guevara and UP School of Economics professor Dr. Renato E. Reside, Jr., shared their insights and comments on Dr. Quimbo’s study. The open forum followed after, in which Sen. Sonny Angara remarked the study’s implications on policymaking, and Dr. Edna Co, CIDS Executive Director, closed the program