The Duterte administration also intends to revisit the sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol products.

The document did not specify what constituted fatty food and the additional amount of taxes to be imposed on luxury items.

This package, which the documents said should be passed by Congress “as needed” will bring about 109.4 billion pesos in net revenue gains, as these will mostly be new taxes.

By 2019, mining tax would generate 3.5 billion pesos (Bt6.58 billion), luxury tax, 7.7 billion pesos; sin tax, 38.2 billion pesos, and 20 billion pesos each from fatty food tax, carbon tax, and lottery and casino tax, according to rough estimates of the Department of Finance.

The Duterte administration’s proposed tax policy reform programme, which is currently being firmed up for submission to Congress next month, will have four main packages: personal income tax and consumption; corporate income tax and incentives; property tax, and capital income tax.

The first tax policy package, aimed for passage in January , will adjust personal income tax brackets to correct so-called income creeping; reduce the maximum personal income tax rate over time to 25 per cent from 32 per cent at present, and shift to a simpler, modified gross system.

To compensate for the foregone revenues arising from the lowering of personal income taxes estimated at 139 billion pesos, the Duterte administration wanted to expand the value-added tax (VAT) base by limiting exemptions to raw food as well as other necessities such as education and health; increase the excise tax on petroleum products and index it to inflation; impose a 5 pesos per kilo tax on sugary products (domestic raw sugar, refined sugar as well as imported sugar and sugar substitutes); relax bank secrecy law for fraud cases, and include tax evasion as a predicate crime to money laundering.

In terms of revenue impact, the first package will bring about a net gain of 220.7 billion pesos, as the loss from reforming the personal income tax system will be compensated by gains of 163.4 billion pesos from VAT base expansion, 178.2 billion pesos from higher oil excise tax, and 18.1 billion pesos from “sweet tax.”

The second tax reform package eyed for the passage in June next year will reduce the corporate income tax rate over time to 25 per cent from 30 percent at present and simplify provisions to improve compliance.Offsetting measures for lower corporate income tax include rationalizing fiscal incentives to make them transparent, targeted, performance-based and time-bound; putting sunset provisions to existing incentives; expanding the coverage of the Fiscal Incentives Review Board to include all incentive recipients beyond state-run corporations; replacing the 5-percent gross income earned tax rate to a reduced corporate income tax rate of 15 percent; strictly limiting VAT zero-rating to direct exporters; giving full VAT refund in cash, and abolishing tax credit certificates.

The second revenue package, however, will result in a net loss of P1 billion, as the projected loss of P34.8 billion from lower corporate income tax is more than the estimated P33.8-billion gain from fiscal incentives rationalization.

The third package will lower the rate of the estate and donor’s tax as well as transaction taxes on land (DST, transfer tax and registration fees), while rationalizing the valuation of properties, increasing valuation closer to market prices, as well as reviewing valuation every three years and adjusting it accordingly.

This package on property tax is eyed for approval in June 2018, and will bring P40 billion in net revenue gain.

The fourth tax policy package, hoped to be passed by Congress in January 2019, will cut the tax on interest income earned on peso deposit and investment to 10 percent from 20 percent at present. To compensate, the government plans to harmonize capital income tax rates for dollar deposits and investment, dividends, equity as well as fixed income rates toward 10 percent, while also increasing the tax on stocks traded in the stock market to 1 percent on gross selling price from 0.5 percent at present.

The capital income tax package will result in a P1-billion net revenue loss.

Through this programme , the government wants to realise Indonesia’s potential for the Digital Energy of Asia by 2020 through the creation of 1,000 tech start-ups, which are expected to help overcome problems by utilizing digital technology. This initiative should be appreciated, given the global digitalization trend in all aspects of life. Nonetheless, most of these start-ups have not touched traditional sectors, such as agriculture.

According to the start-up ranking issued by TechInAsia, the top 15 start-ups in Indonesia are still dominated by e-commerce. This indicates that Indonesian private consumption is very high. But if we look at the national agricultural sector, the condition is inversely proportional to feed its population.

In the midst of growing food demand, it is unlikely that the Indonesian agricultural sector will be able to provide sufficient food. Although such start-ups would be identical to those in information technology and digitalisation, this does not mean they only dwell in the two realms.

Many lines of business could be developed by start-ups, including agriculture.

The effort to synthesise digital start-ups in agriculture has been made in several countries. In 2010, some Silicon Valley-based programmers initiated a meeting with investors to discuss how a start-up and investors could benefit agriculture, which later gave birth to the term Agriculture 2.0.

Another country that has continued to develop its agricultural start-ups is India. Narendra Modi’s government is currently trying to increase investment in the agricultural sector, which is able to employ half of India’s workforce.

For Indonesia, based on the purpose of the movement and definition of a start-up itself, the role of an agricultural start-up could be crucial. Based on the 2013 Agriculture Census, the national agricultural industry is still dominated by the home industry, with a total of about 26.14 million households, while the number of agricultural companies totalled only 4,165.

This means that the majority of Indonesian farmers are working on a small scale with undeveloped technology and limited access to education and information. If start-ups can work well in agriculture, they will not only grow new companies but also strengthen millions of small farmers in Indonesia.

Furthermore, the census also showed a decreasing number of industrial farming households compared to the 2003 census. Indonesia has lost about 5 million farmers due a lack of support and low profits.

Nonetheless, the current hype to reinforce agriculture has been taken by some start-ups, such as I-Grow and Limakilo, which empower local farmers to eliminate the role of brokers while providing professional management. In software development, names like Matadaun, PEKA and Duty Plant have been established to assist farmers with planting, financial management and agricultural knowledge.

This could be a new hope since they bring science, digital technology, as well as access to information and global networks for the local farmers to utilize and compete globally.

A few things need to be undertaken, starting with building awareness and providing knowledge about the needs of start-up farming. It is important for founders, investors and public officials to understand the necessities of agricultural start-ups.

This is essential given the current start-up trend, which is dominated by the service sector and sales.

Second, comprehensive policy support, ranging from licensing issues, access to capital and incentives, is needed. Licensing facilities are in line with the government’s goal to improve its ranking in ease of doing business.

Access to capital is not just about access to banks but also the ease of investment. A government-established incubator is a good starting point because it facilitates access to capital and advocates for policy support.

Last but not least is the approach to farmers and local administrations. Literacy technology, particularly in IT for farmers, is very important. Without it, they cannot use the services and software provided by start-ups.

Local government support is also crucial since they are dealing with farmers and the locus of agriculture. For example, cooperation between start-ups and local administrations to arrange village funds to develop agricultural products and empower farmers. Without involving farmers and local governments, agricultural start-ups will only be a discourse at the urban level.

The project focuses on two provinces along the middle Mekong main stream, Borikhamxay and Khammuan.

The project’s aim is to improve transboundary freshwater natural resources management via the creation of a fish conservation zone (FCZ), fisheries management committee and village patrolling units in 15 villages of target provinces.

It will run in parallel with a similar project in Thailand, in an effort to jointly improve the management of the Mekong River’s rich natural resources.

The project will also support local livelihoods and development of alternative sources of income to reduce pressures on freshwater natural resources.

In addition, the project will seek to raise awareness in communities to better understand the benefits of fish conservation and fisheries management.

The 3-year US$402,000 (Bt1.38 billion) project is funded by WWF Switzerland and receives technical support from the WWF Greater Mekong Programme Office.

To further demonstrate the benefits of fish conservation zones, the DLF and WWF-Laos will use systematic monitoring and evaluation processes that will provide scientific grounds for the replication of the community fisheries model in other parts of Laos as well as the Greater Mekongregion.

Setting up fish conservation zones has a fundamental importance for both people and the environment. FCZs contribute to the overall improvement of people’s livelihoods by increasing fish stocks and thus the rivers’ fish productivity.

FCZs also contribute to freshwater conservation as fish species benefit from safe havens to spawn, feed and shelter.

This new project is the latest in a long-lasting cooperation between the DLF and WWF-Laos that started in 2007.

At the time, the project also supported villages in the southern provinces of Xekong and Attapeu as well as Bokeo province in northern Laos.