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Natural resources offer host countries the opportunity to translate their assets into sustainable development. Having significant revenues enables governments to fund social services like health and education. But being too dependent on resource revenues also puts them at risk. The volatility of commodity prices can cause extreme shocks to their government spending especially if no systematic measures are in place for such occurrences. Hence it is important for citizens, policymakers, and journalists to ask how much government is making and how dependent are they from the sector.
As oil prices plummet, so will revenues and government transfers of national oil companies (NOCs). Should this go on, some NOCs may face insolvency, debt restructuring, and costly government bailouts.
In his July 2017 State of the Nation Address, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said he would tax miners to “death.” In December 2017, he signed Republic Act 10963--Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN)—the first of six packages of a comprehensive program. TRAIN took effect on 1 January.
Under the new tax system, mining companies that extract metallic or non-metallic minerals are now subject to a 4 percent excise tax on the value of their production—double the previous rate. This excise tax is equivalent to what most countries would label a “royalty” on mineral production. What does this 100 percent increase mean for the sector? |
AuthorHey there! I'm Marco from the Philippines. I write mostly about natural resource governance, open data, and good governance. Archives
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