FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd, who has made tax reform a key priority during his tenure as the nation’s chief bean counter, earlier this week suggested that two of the country’s most obnoxious and despised tax instruments, the documentary stamp tax (DST) and the travel tax, should be reduced or eliminated. This is an excellent suggestion and one Congress should act on soon.

The DST is defined by law as a tax on “documents, instruments, loan agreements and papers proving the acceptance, assignment, sale or transfer of an obligation, right or property incident thereto and in respect of the transaction so had or accomplished.” There are two different rates for the DST, a flat rate per document for most covered transactions and a rate per P200 of value for debt instruments such as bonds and Treasury bills.

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