The House ways and means panel on Monday approved the substitute provisions to the measure seeking to exempt medical oxygen and other medical supplies for COVID-19 from taxes.
“We introduced the provisions to a bill already approved by the committee, and principally authored by Rep. Ruffy Biazon. We worked on this over the weekend so we could approve it today,” committee chairman Representative Joey Salceda said.
“House Bill No. 8895 was actually already approved by the committee, so we inserted the provisions that would have fit the President’s request, so that we could expedite the process,” he added.
The COVID-19 Supplies Tax Exemption Act was in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s appeal to Congress to exempt medical oxygen supplies from taxes.
The proposed measure exempts the manufacture, importation, sale, and donation of critical medical supplies and essential goods during public health emergencies.
It also mandates the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Finance to draw up the list of goods subject to exemption. According to Salceda, the exemptions will require the declaration of a public health emergency by the President after December 2023, but will be in effect until then.
Under the proposed measure, the Secretary of Finance, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Trade and Industry, may also suspend the threshold on required export sales for availment of privileges under Title XIII of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, to allow manufacturers to sell to the domestic market.—LDF,GMA News
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