President Arroyo will sign into law the expanded Value Added Tax (VAT) bill today, May 24, during a Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meeting in Malacaņang.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Senate President Franklin Drilon, and selected business leaders were invited for the signing, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.
Arroyo said the signing of the VAT signaled the end of the first phase and the start of the second phase of her fiscal reform program, which would see a crackdown on tax cheats and corrupt government officials and the privatization of the power sector.
Aside from the VAT bill, laws raising taxes on tobacco and alcohol products and penalizing revenue agencies that fail to meet their collection targets have been implemented since Arroyo announced that the country was in a "fiscal crisis" in August last year.
