DEPUTY Speaker Ralph Recto yesterday appealed to his former colleagues in the Senate to pass a bill extending the estate tax amnesty period for two years.
A senator for 18 years, Recto said his “former classmates can pass what is a simple bill” without having to wait for President Marcos Jr. to certify the measure as urgent.
The House committee on ways and means on April 25 approved the bill extending the period of estate tax amnesty for another two years, from June 15 this year to June 14, 2025.
Proponents of the House Bill No. 7409 pushed for an extension of the estate tax amnesty, previously extended by RA No. 11569, because many families still have yet to avail themselves of the amnesty.
“This paves the way for plenary debates, the outcome of which, its passage, is a certainty,” Recto said.
Both chambers of Congress will resume session today but will have only 12 session days before adjourning again by the end of the month.
Recto said that while tax bills originate from the House, the Senate can start tackling the bill so that when the House bill arrives, the Senate version is primed for floor debates.
While in the Senate, Recto was among the authors of Republic Act 11213 which erased penalties and significantly cut the rates for estate tax obligations. However, the amnesty period coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting Congress to pass what would become RA 11569 which extended the amnesty period by two years, to June 14, 2023.
Recto said that by extending the window of opportunity again by two years, “families will save billions while government will earn billions.”
The extension is a “lifeline to a government scrounging for revenues and an act of kindness” to seniors whose vulnerability during the 30 months the pandemic raged prevented them from availing themselves of the amnesty, he added.
