Palace to BIR, TRB: Resolve quarrel over VAT on toll operators

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang directed yesterday the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to immediately resolve their quarrel over the planned imposition of the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) on toll operators.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Gary Olivar said the Palace expects the matter of the BIR’s plan to impose the VAT starting April 1 and the TRB’s opposition to it to be resolved soon.

He said it was not the first time agencies bickered over policies. BIR officials reportedly indicated that they would push through with the plan and only President Arroyo can stop it.

“I think these issues can properly settled by the agencies talking to each other and by their respective Cabinet-level agency head, if necessary,” Olivar said.

“Only Malacañang can stop it if the two agencies cannot agree, which I find it difficult to believe because I see no reason why the two agencies cannot talk,” he said. “This is not something that rise I think to the level of Palace intervention and hopefully it will not get into that point and I see no reason for it to get to that point.”

Reports said that starting April 1, the BIR will start collecting VAT from tollway operators Manila North Tollways Corp. for the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and South Luzon Tollway Corp. for the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), which will come from toll collected from private motor vehicles.

BIR Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres estimated the agency can collect about P1.3 billion a year, and around 70 percent to 80 percent of the take will be from private vehicles.

He said the tollway operators can decide if they want to shoulder the VAT or increase their toll by 12 percent.

The TRB has asked the BIR to defer the imposition of the 12-percent VAT until after the Holy Week, saying that it is during this time that a large number of motorists are on the road.

However, Tan-Torres said the toll tax is not new. “We are just merely enforcing a long-enacted provision which has been deferred for several years already,” he said.

The toll tax was supposed to be implemented as early as 2005 but the Cabinet decided to shelve its implementation until further study.

“We have given the tollway operators and the TRB sufficient time to prepare for the implementation since our last meeting with them last January,” Tan-Torres said.

Aside from the NLEX and SLEX, the TRB has jurisdiction over the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Coastal Road), South Metro Manila Skyway, Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR tollway), and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).

Meanwhile, members of the Nacionalista Party, led by vice presidential bet Sen. Loren Legarda, opposed the BIR’s toll tax plan and said it was a “result of anti-poor policies of people in government.”   – With Iris Gonzales, Christina Mendez