DAVAO CITY – Amid calls of Presidential bets to lower taxes, a budget watchdog on Thursday, April 21 has asked them to explain how will they compensate for lost revenues should in case such proposal will push through.
“Candidates have made excessive promises in their platforms. How are they going to deliver these promises to woo the voters? We know lowering taxes is appealing to voters, but the people need to know where the next administration will get the money to compensate for the lost revenues,” Leonor Magtolis Briones, a convenor of Social Watch Philippines, in a statement said.
According to Briones, Presidential candidates have overlooked the idea that government corporations should remit 50 percent of their income to the national government.
Apart from this, they should also consider the “streamlining the brackets for high-earning tax payers; reform or rationalize excise taxes, investment incentives; and reforms in tax administration and efficient tax collection.”
Social Watch said that of four Presidential candidates, both Duterte and Vice Mayor Jojo Binay declared that they will reduce the taxes of lower income groups.
On the other hand, Senator Grace Poe and Defensor said they will reduce corporate tax. The group added that Poe and Santiago claimed that they will reduce the tax rate of higher income groups with P500,000 and above annual income, from 32 percent to 25 percent.
But Briones criticized Poe’s and Santiago’s proposals saying it will make poor even poorer.
“It does not help that this will practically lower the income tax of the elite billionaires’ club which is included in the said tax bracket. Worse, Defensor proposed to increase the tax rate of Value Added Tax from 12% to 19% in 2019 which will definitely render the poor even poorer.”
Briones has also raised the constitutional question on the declaration of Poe that the determination of tax rates should be left to economists.
“We all know that revenue measures should emanate from the House of Representatives, upon the recommendation of the Executive. On the other hand, it is expected that Secretary Mar Roxas will maintain the current policies,” she said.
Binay sees loans as necessary to provide government services, while Santiago declared that she would rather get domestic borrowings rather than foreign loans. Roxas said he will exercise prudence in foreign borrowings, according to the group.
Meanwhile, Briones’ group is also proposing to amend Section 79-F of the National Internal Revenue Code which deems the husband as head of the family on matters of tax exemptions.
“What if the father does not have work? The mother who is practically the head of the family will not be able to declare their children as dependents without the consent of the father. This is sad, considering that more women than men in the family are the ones working.”
Briones pointed out that it is a big challenge for the next administration to absolutely abolish poverty by 2030.
“This poses a big challenge to the next administration and the candidates quickly vowed to bring relief to the poor, in terms of food, jobs, education, and health,” she said.
In 2016, the Philippines committed to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals composed of 17 sustainable goals and 169 targets, emphasizing to eradicate poverty.
Moreover, the group also monitored the stand of all the Presidential bets on several issues like public financing, pork barrel, lump sum funds, and the sources of government revenues, among others.
“Only Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said they will reject all pork barrel and lump sum funds in any form. That means they are opening 25 percent of the national budget to public scrutiny when it goes through the Congress deliberations, which should be the appropriate process,” Briones said.
It can be recalled that the Supreme Court has made decisions on both the pork barrel and lump sums. The group stressed that one of the obligations of the president is to defend the Constitution. (davaotoday.com)
