[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-desktop-hide=” av-medium-hide=” av-small-hide=” av-mini-hide=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=”]
[/av_textblock]
[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’ Tax reform ‘biggest Xmas gift to Filipinos’ – Duterte’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law yesterday a landmark tax reform bill that seeks lower income taxes.
He also signed during a ceremony in Malacañang the 2018 General Appropriations Act. The P3.7-trillion national budget next year is 12.4 percent higher than the P3.35 trillion for this year.
According to Duterte, the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN bill will “spare 99 percent of the population” from income tax.
“This is the administration’s biggest Christmas gift to the Filipino people,” he said in a speech. “This bill will exempt low-income earners from playing annual income taxes starting next year.”
Ten million poorest households will also get a P200 monthly dole-out starting January and P300 per month in 2019 and 2020, said Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque.
“Now, of course, to cushion the impact of indirect taxes, there is cash transfer provided in the law itself,” Roque said.
“We have provided for mitigation, realizing that the poorest of the poor would need some kind of assistance as a result of TRAIN,” he said.
While the TRAIN bill, now Republic Act 10963, is seen to raise the take-home pay of 7.5 million income tax payers, it will also impose higher taxes on fuel, cars, tobacco, coal, and mining, among others.
On petroleum, a P1-per-kilogram tax for liquefied petroleum gas will be added next year. Diesel will have a P2.50-per-liter tax increase while all variants of gasoline will be taxed P7 per liter.
Beverages using caloric and non-caloric sweeteners will be taxed P6 per liter, while those using high-fructose corn syrup, P12 per liter.
Tax-exempt are milk, 3-in-1 coffee, 100-percent natural fruit and vegetable juices, meal replacements, medically indicated beverages, and juices that use coco sugar and stevia.
TRAIN also raises excise taxes on both local and imported coal. Some lawmakers tried to exempt coal producers from duties amid concerns that the law could trigger a spike in power costs.
“Many of the new excise taxes would not really amount to much because, really, the amount of taxes that you pay is dependent on your consumption as well,” said Roque. “And if you are marginalized, the consumption is very low.”
With the tax reform law, the government expects to earn around P130 billion to bankroll the administration’s economic agenda.
Under its P8.44-trillion 2017-2022 Build, Build, Build program, the government aims to ramp up its spending on infrastructure alone to P1.899 trillion – equivalent to 7.45 percent of the gross domestic product – when Duterte’s term ends in 2022.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education gets a huge chunk of the 2018 budget with P553.3 billion.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government followed with P170.8 billion; Department of National Defense, P149.7 billion; and Department of Social Welfare and Development, P141.8 billion.
“The 2018 GAA is a credible budget,” Duterte said. “It will primarily support infrastructure development, free education in SUCs (state universities and colleges), universal health care, free irrigation, and maintenance of peace and order.”
“The passage of the 2018 GAA and TRAIN is not just a victory for the legislative and executive branches of government. It’s a victory for our people,” the President said./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
