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THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI)
has proposed a temporary reduction of tariffs on the importation of
ingredients for animal feeds amid the global food shortage.
In a proposed resolution, PCCI
suggested that apart from cut of duties on animal feed inputs, the
government should also impose strict quota on all imported parent
stocks that produce the hatching eggs.
This will prevent over supply of
eggs and big losses for egg producers, the group said.
“The government to look for and
promote alternative ingredients substitute for animal feeds such as
cassava, and to provide budgetary allocation for planting and proper
technology,” the PCCI paper read.
Besides resolutions on
agriculture, PCCI also appealed for a reduction or even scraping the
value-added tax on oil from 12 percent to 5 percent.
The Department of Finance earlier
said the government may loss P54 billion in revenue by scraping VAT
on oil.
By not scraping the 12-percent
VAT, Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said the government can
earn an additional P17-billion to P18-billion revenues from VAT on
oil, if the price of the commodity in the world marker averaged $100
a barrel this year.
Teves said that with the amount,
the government can spend the excess revenue to support subsidy to
the poorest of the poor and the affected sector by the skyrocketing
commodity prices.
In the first quarter of the year,
he said the government has already realized an excess of roughly P4
billion from VAT on oil.
Currently, there are on going
campaigns of convincing President Gloria Arroyo to suspend the taxes
on oil products amid the skyrocketing prices of basic goods.
--Chino S. Leyco
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