The House of Representatives passed on third reading, House Bill 4157, which seeks to cut corporate income tax and rationalize tax incentives. Under the measure, corporate income tax will be reduced from the current rate of 30% by 2 percentage points every other year beginning 2021 to a target rate of 20% by 2029.

Inflation eased further to 1.7% in August (from 2.4% in July); lower than consensus expectation of 1.8%. The following inflation components were those that showed moderation: food & non-alcoholic beverages (+0.6% YoY from 1.9% in July), housing & utilities (+1.8% YoY from 2.2% in July) and transport (-0.2% YoY from +0.7% in July).

The House Ways and Means Committee approved House Bill No. 304 (also called Passive Income and Financial Intermediation Taxation Act), which is the fourth package of the government’s comprehensive tax reform program. The PIFITA is intended to make passive income and financial intermediary taxes simpler, fairer, more efficient and more regionally competitive.