BAGUIO CITY – Vice Mayor Edison Bilog supported the call of cooperative members here to oppose a move in Congress to lift the tax exemption privileges accorded cooperatives in the country.
Bilog last week proposed a resolution in the city council “strongly opposing the passage of any proposed bills lifting tax exemptions on cooperatives.”
He said there is a current move in both houses of Congress to repeal the law granting tax exemption privileges to cooperatives.
“Pending before the House of Representatives and the Senate are proposed bills on the Rationalization of Fiscal Investment Incentives which seek to repeal Articles 60 and 61 of Republic Act No. 9250 or the Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008 which extends cooperatives tax exemption privileges,” Bilog said.
Section 61 provides that cooperatives with assets of not more than P10 million are exempt from all national, city, municipal or barangay taxes as well as from customs duties, advance sales or compensation taxes on their importation of machineries, equipment and spare parts used by them.
Bilog said removing the tax exemption privileges of cooperatives “would defeat the role and purpose of having cooperatives likewise the intent of the 1987 Constitution on the creation of the Cooperative Development Authority as provided in Section 15 Article XII of the Constitution which states that it shall be the policy of the state to promote the viability and growth of cooperatives as instruments of equity, social justice and economic development.”
“The City Government of Baguio being a cooperative-friendly local government unit supports the vision, mission and objectives of the cooperatives thus (we) strongly oppose the passage of any proposed bills lifting tax exemptions on cooperatives as it will greatly interrupt the growth of the cooperative and affect its members,” Bilog said.
Cooperative members led by the Baguio-Benguet Community Credit Cooperative, the biggest cooperative in the area, staged a rally recently to air their opposition to the proposed bills which they said will adversely affect the ideals of cooperativism in the city.
Bilog’s measure will be tackled in the city council’s next session. ** Aileen P. Refuerzo
