Benguet’s mining community welcomed the exemption of small-scale gold miners in paying income and excise taxes when selling gold to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) after the “Gold Bill” was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte on March 29.
“Happy to know that so it will pave the way for the small-scale miners to directly sell their gold produce to the BSP and for the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) secretary to immediately give clearance to all Minahang Bayan applications of the small-scale mining to pave the way for them to be legalized,” Lomino Kaniteng, president of the Benguet Federation of Small Scale Miners (BFSSM), was quoted saying in a SunStar.com report.
Loacan Itogon Pocket Miners Association also expressed their acceptance of the law through their spokesperson Daniel Pay-an.
According to Kaniteng, small-scale miners stopped selling their gold outputs to BSP since 2012 since the Bureau of Internal Revenue imposed a two percent excise tax on gold sales to the central bank.
Republic Act 11256 amended said two-percent excise tax alongside Sections 32 and 151 of the National Internal Revenue Code. Registered small-scale miners will now be exempted from paying income and excise taxes when they sell gold to BSP.
Meanwhile, Kaniteng also suggested a meeting between BSP representatives and small-scale miners group so that the former can know the latter’s existing policy.
Kaniteng stated that the gold mining in Benguet remained the steadiest economic driver of the province employing 23,000 workers despite the dangers and restriction in the industry.
