The Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) has considered pushing for a 50/50 sharing scheme with miners to boost government revenue in mining.
Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje, a member of the MICC, said the members of the interagency body tasked to formulate a viable revenue-sharing scheme for the minerals development sector, agreed to adopt a unified tax-collection system wherein the government will collect a 10-percent share from the gross revenue of mining projects, then split the net income with its private contractor.
A draft bill will be submitted by the MICC to Congress by September this year, he said.
“Our final proposal is that 10 percent of the gross will go to the government and 10 percent will go to the mining company. Then, for net, we will split it 50/50,” Paje said.
Paje said the government’s share, as well as the company share, will be deducted or collected based on the shipments of minerals.
“In a way, it will be a 50/50 sharing from gross and net profit,” he said.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources chief estimated that the government can collect P10 billion annually from gross revenue of mining companies alone.
“So even if a mining company will have no profit, we are already assured of the 10-percent share from gross,” he added.
Paje also assured that local government units (LGUs) would have an equitable share in revenues paid by mining companies.
“[Currently], the revenue sharing is 60/40 in favor of the national government. Under the proposed bill, we are moving it to 50/50,” he said.
Paje said they would leave the tax collection in non-metallic minerals, including quarrying and gravel, to the LGUs.
Source: Jonathan L. Mayuga, BusinessMirror, 29 July 2013 20:36
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