There is no relief yet for ordinary workers despite the law exempting minimum wage earners from income taxes.

Senators Manuel Roxas II and Francis Escudero lamented that the law was not being enforced because the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Department of Finance (DOF) have not issued the implementing rules and regulations.

Escudero said the BIR wanted to implement the exemption in 2009 but he threatened to sue the agency if it would do so, saying the law should have taken effect last January.

Roxas called on Malacañang to stop delaying the full implementation of the law, which also raised personal exemptions for other workers.

“The Palace just keeps on making promises to the people. We have long passed the tax exemption but we only hear excuses from the Palace,” said Roxas, principal author of Republic Act 9504, enacted last June 17, that exempted minimum wage earners from income tax.

“Why do we need to make it difficult for the people to enjoy the tax exemption?” he asked.

Roxas opposed a plan of the DOF to require companies to submit a list of their employees earning minimum wage.

The DOF plan, he said, would only be an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy that would make it harder for employees to avail of their income tax exemption.

“We are needlessly enlarging the bureaucracy by creating these new requirements that will only serve to lengthen the process in order to avail of the exemption,” he said.

“It seems the DOF is intent on collections according to the old law for as long as possible, since it’s easier. Instead of working to make the BIR more efficient under the new law, our people continue to be burdened by high taxes on top of high prices,” Roxas said.

He said the call for full and immediate implementation of RA 9504 has been echoed by, among other groups, the Tax Management Association of the Philippines, Business Processing Association of the Philippines, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Escudero said the BIR must follow a Supreme Court decision stating that a law on tax exemptions must be implemented at the start of a taxable year.

The senator said the BIR would just have to make the necessary adjustments on its projected revenues.

Revenue loss from the tax relief for minimum wage earners, pegged at P3.16 billion, and the loss due to the increase in exemption estimated at P11.09 billion, can be offset by the revenues to be generated from the new law that hopefully will promote tax collection efficiency expected to generate an estimated P15.03 billion.

Under the new law, the tax exemptions will provide additional take-home pay of P34 a day or P750 a month for minimum wage earners.

All holiday, night differential, hazard and overtime pay will also be tax exempt for minimum wage earners both from the private and government sectors.

Under the law, married couples can enjoy P100,000 in combined income tax deductions (P50,000 each if both are working) plus an additional P25,000 deduction per dependent up to a maximum of four children, or total deductions of up to P200,000 for each family.

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), meanwhile, supported the proposal to raise the minimum age requirement to 30 years for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) applying as household service workers (HSW).

Fr. Edwin Corros, CBCP-Episcopal Commission on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People (ECMI), said that he supports the proposal of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to increase the minimum age requirement of Filipino domestic helpers sent abroad from 23 to 30 years old.

“We support the higher age because a woman or person of that age would be emotionally mature. However, we still have yet to find supporting documents or an empirical study that would prove that older persons are more capable of protecting themselves from abuses such as rape,” Fr. Corros added.

He added that this is already the practice in Sri Lanka, where only women aged 30 or 35 are allowed to work abroad.

He admitted that the younger generation of OFWs, or those below 30 years old, who are aspiring to work as HSW abroad would be adversely affected by this change in the age requirement since they would not qualify for overseas employment.

Labor Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz had reported that the increase in suicides and runaways among Filipino maids prompted the DFA to request for the increase in the minimum age requirement. –With Evelyn Macairan

Source: Aurea Calica