Senator Sonny Angara urged small-scale miners to sell their gold outputs directly to the government to contribute to the country’s foreign exchange buffer.
According to Angara, small-scale miners could soon experience tax exemptions by selling their gold to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) instead of the black market.
This is possible, Angara said, through the signage of his authored and sponsored Senate Bill No. 2127 or the so-called “Gold Bill.”
The Gold Bill has been transmitted to Malacañang and is awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature.
Angara’s Gold Bill is said to affect Sections 32 and 151 of the National Internal Revenue Code, amending it to make the sale of gold from small-scale miners to the BSP exempt from income and excise taxes.
Proceeds from “sale of gold by registered small-scale miners” and “sale of gold by registered small-scale miners to accredited traders for eventual sale to the BSP” will be covered by the tax exemption.
“By selling their gold to the BSP, our small-scale miners will not only help the BSP shore up the country’s gross international reserves (GIR), but they will also be assured that they will receive a fair price for their gold unlike in the black market where prices are below market levels,” said Angara in a report by Manila Bulletin.
The bill also seeks to allow the BSP to better build up the Gross International Reserves (GIR) by buying domestically produced gold from small-scale miners using the Philippines Peso.
Instead of purchasing gold using dollars, acquiring gold from the domestic market would boost the GIR by avoiding the inflationary effects dollar can cause to our country’s money supply.
The Gold Bill is also believed to be appropriate with the Republic Act 7076 or the People’s Small-Scale Mining Act of 1999 where support for the development of the small-scale mining industry is given priority.
