Finance Secretary Ralph Recto is cold on proposals to slash the Philippines' value-added tax (VAT), saying this could hurt the government's financial muscle and compel it to borrow more funds.
In a statement on Thursday, Recto said lowering VAT might "lead to massive revenue losses, resulting in less public services, and may force the government to borrow even for basic operations, such as personnel salaries."
The Finance chief said the entire VAT collection for 2025 of P1.39 trillion "can only fund nine months' worth of payroll, premium, and pension of active and retired government workers."
Moreover, the P576 billi
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