Maniolas

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said there is no risk of capital flight once the government pushes through with its plan to slap a higher tax rate of 35 percent on high-income earners or the so-called ‘ultra rich.’  MANILA, Philippines – Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said there is no risk of capital flight once the government pushes through with its plan to slap a higher tax rate of 35 percent on high-income earners or the so-called ‘ultra rich.’ “It’s not really a big concern,” Dominguez told reporters. Newly-appointed Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko agreed, adding that the additional three percentage points is “not that much” of an increase from the current highest individual tax rate of 32 percent. The plan, which will be included in the tax reform package to be submitted to Congress, will see only “less than 1,000 people” getting affected, according to Bureau of Internal Revenue data cited by Tionko. This will easily cover the bureau’s top 500 individual income taxpayers, which included businessmen and celebrities led by Jacinto Ng of Rebisco Corp. and now Senator Manny Pacquiao. In that year, the two paid P280.11 million and P210.31 million in income taxes at a rate of 32 percent. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Local businessmen were also in the list, including San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang, Ayala Corp.’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, and Metro Pacific Corp. chief Manuel Pangilinan. “I really don’t think they would mind paying a higher tax rate since they Read More …

MANILA, Philippines – PLDT Inc. posted a double-digit growth in enterprise business in the first six months from a year ago amid strong usage of data and broadband services. In a statement yesterday, PLDT said revenues from the enterprise business reached over P15 billion in the first six months, 10 percent higher than last year’s level following aggressive roll out of enterprise data-driven services and solutions. “We are seeing sustained double-digit growth as of August this year, further solidifying our position as the preferred digital enabler among the country’s industries and government entities. Our robust growth also reflects the emerging requirements of industries, and businesses to become more connected and utilize innovative IT (information technology) solutions to run their operations,” Eric Alberto, PLDT executive vice president and head of the enterprise group said. To better cater to the needs of companies in keeping up with the digital economy, PLDT’s efforts are being planned by taking into account the different industry roadmaps. “The PLDT Group has steadily put in place the infrastructure necessary to support this growing digital ecosystem that businesses need to thrive in a globally competitive environment, and formed strategic partnerships with IT leaders to serve and grow our portfolio of digital services for the benefit of our country’s enterprises,” Alberto said. In line with PLDT’s digital pivot, the group’s enterprise revenues from data and broadband services jumped 23 percent year-on-year to over P9 billion in the first half with mobile internet revenues surging 121 percent during the period. Read More …