MANILA -- Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said economic managers have recommended the filing of a motion for reconsideration on the recent Supreme Court (SC) decision that expands the source of local governments’ internal revenue allotment (IRA) to “all” national taxes.
“The DBCC yesterday recommended to the President to file a motion for reconsideration,” he told members of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations during the hearing for the proposed 2019 national budget.
During the same hearing, Budget and Management Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the motion for reconsideration will be filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
He, however, declined to elaborate what the said filing would discuss.
In a 42-page decision released earlier this month, the High Court ruled the “just share” of local government units (LGUs) on government revenues should not be limited to internal revenue collections, as is currently the practice, but to include all national taxes.
Internal revenues are those collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which collects about 70 percent of state revenues.
On the other hand, national taxes include those collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) such as tariffs.
Section 284 of Republic Act (RA) No. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code of 1991, states that local governments shall have a 40 percent share in the national internal revenue taxes.
Earlier, Diokno said the SC decision will have some implications on the proposed Php3.757 trillion national budget but added that the Department of the Budget and Management (DBM) will heed the decision once it becomes final.
Dominguez, in a statement earlier, said the SC decision should be studied and implemented carefully since it “is not a simple matter.”
On Tuesday, the Finance chief said the SC decision will increase by Php195 billion the supposed Php575 billion IRA shares of LGUs that will be disbused in 2019. (PNA)
