LOCAL businessmen are bracing for the worst – if not the death, of the Philippine textile industry amid the refusal of the Department of Finance (DOF) to honor their accumulated tax credits covering 2014 to date.
Documents obtained showed that the DOF has suspended the issuance of tax credits and refunds to local textile firms in view of the alleged irregularities spotted by the Commission on Audit (COA) covering tax certificates.
According to the DOF, the One-Stop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (OSS) decided to withhold tax perks just because some traders messed up?
With due respect to the COA, which is working on a mandate to ensure the integrity of government money matters, it seems that the DOF is in a sweeping mood which could actually kill the entire local textile industry.
Sometime last year, the DOF released a list of textile companies whose applications for tax credits were declined by the DOF despite the fact that these businessmen were only following what they were told to do by no less than the government itself – manifesting in a government that is colliding with its own.
Assuming there are flaws, COA usually makes recommendations on how to put things in its proper perspective. Audit reports are usually issued with remedial steps that have to be complied with. As it is, DOF didn’t give the textile companies the chance to rectify whatever glitches were seen by the state auditor.
Another interesting point is that the DOF seemed to be in a wanton shooting spree of the local textile industry, where millions of Filipinos are either employed, into small-scale business or indirectly benefiting from the trade.
The DOF is supposedly working doubly hard with other national government agencies in trying to find investors from where the government gets a huge chunk of its collections in the form of taxes.
But why the hell would they want to kill an industry where millions of Filipinos are depending on?
These businessmen do not owe the government any taxes. They have been consistently complying with government rules and regulations. They provide jobs and livelihood. This industry also takes our garments to the international market.
In fairness to the OSS, they have regularly been in touch with the businessmen behind the local textile industry. It is for this reason that the claim on flaws happening under their noses seemed incomprehensible. It is also notable to take into consideration that none from the OSS was held accountable.
Moreover, the tax credits that the DOF turned down are the same with those which they have approved and credited before 2014. So what difference does it make?
It is also quite ironic that the claims of irregularities in the issuance of tax credits didn’t even merit a case filed in the proper judicial body – not even one textile company or a DOF official in connivance.
Well, obviously, some people at the DOF are not happy – or maybe working for somebody else who is out to kill the local textile industry so that they could come in, and perhaps, lord over the trade.