The House of Representatives has passed the third and final reading of a bill that would establish a new fiscal regime for the country’s mining industry, imposing margin-based royalties and windfall profit tax on large-scale miners.
House Bill 8937, based on a Business World report, was approved by Congress last night. It looks to simplify the mining tax system and make the Philippines competitive in terms of attracting investments into the capital-intensive sector.
Under the bill, large-scale metallic mining operations inside mineral reservations would need to pay four percent of their gross outputs to the government.
Meanwhile, margin-based royalties on income from metallic operations will be imposed on those outside the reservation areas. For example, miners with a one percent up to 10% margin will be subject to a one percent rate. The royalty rate can rise up to as much as five percent for those margins above 70%.
Small-scale miners will be imposed with royalties equal to a tenth of one percent of their gross output.
Also under the bill, mining income will also be subject to a margin-based windfall profits tax. Companies with 35% to 40% margins would face a one percent tax rate, while those with an 80% and up margin will be imposed a 10% rate.
Chamber of Mines of the Philippines vice chairman Gerard Brimo said in the Business World report that while the current mining tax regime is already substantial, however, the additional tax proposed in the bill is “not punishingly high.”
Currently, mining companies must pay corporate tax, excise tax, royalties, local business tax, real property tax, and fees to indigenous communities.
