Marcos assures poll workers of govt incentives despite tax bill veto

PRESIDENT Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. assured election workers they will still receive incentives from the government through its targeted budgetary spending despite his decision to veto a proposed law seeking to exempt from taxes honoraria, allowances, and other benefits provided them for services rendered every election season.

The current administration is looking for ways to simplify the tax payment system and having another category will only add more confusion and burden to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) as well as give an opening for leakage and red tape, he said.

"(K)asi pagka-gumawa ka ng tax subsidy, hindi mo alam kung sino ang makakakuha dahil kahit 'yung hindi nangangailangan, nakakakuha ng subsidy. Hindi naman dapat sila bigyan," he reasoned out during a short presser following his visit to the Pasig City Sports Complex last Monday.

(It is because when you create a tax subsidy, you don't know who receives it since even those not in need get the subsidy. They should not be given that.)

Putting in place a process for targeted support will not need a new tax category, and one way of doing this is through the use of the National ID, or PhilSys, to determine those eligible for the assistance.

"Hindi ibig sabihin nito na kinalimutan natin 'yung ating mga election workers. Mayroon — babalikan natin sila pagka nagka-eleksyon, eh 'di titingnan natin sino ba talaga ang nagtrabaho? Ilang oras sila, ilang araw sila nagtrabaho dito? Ano 'yung kanilang position? Sila'yung nag-aano doon sa mga makina? Whatever it is," said the President.

(It does not mean we have forgotten about the election workers. We will need them again every election, we will have to see who really among them are working. How many hours, how many days did they work? What's their positions? Did they operate the machines? Whatever it is.)

Marcos Jr. last week vetoed House Bill 9652/Senate Bill 2520, also known as "An Act Exempting from Income Taxation the Honoraria, Allowances, and other Financial Benefits of Persons Rendering Service During an Election Period".

He justified his move through a letter sent to leaders of both houses of Congress that the proposed legislation runs counter to the objective of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program "to correct the inequity in the country's tax system and negate the progressivity of the reforms" as stated in Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law.

"Moreover, the studies of pertinent government agencies on the revenue loss is too substantial an impact to be foregone," the Chief Executive stated.

Source: TheManila Times