One-month tax holiday sought

A MEASURE providing for income tax relief for one month has been filed in the Senate, in a bid to improve public trust amid the multi-billion-peso flood control scandal.

“The welfare of the people is the supreme law. It is therefore just and necessary that the State respond by providing tangible relief to the very taxpayers who sustain it,” Senator Erwin T. Tulfo said in his explanatory note.

Senate Bill No. 1446, the One-Month Tax Holiday bill, proposes a one-time, one-month income tax holiday for individual taxpayers receiving compensation income which will be on the first payroll month immediately following the approval of the bill.

For mixed income earners, only the portion classified as compensation income will be exempted from income tax.

“While taxation is recognized as the lifeblood of the State, we must equally recognize that his lifeblood flows from the people themselves,” he added.

The proposed tax holiday will not cover mandatory contributions to the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., and the Home Development Mutual Fund.

It will not cover loan amortizations and other payments voluntarily authorized by the worker.

The proposed measure also included a non-diminution clause which will ensure that employers could not reduce employee wages during the tax holiday month.

“The exposure of alleged anomalies on flood control projects, involving billions of pesos in public funds have gravely eroded public trust in government fiscal stewardship,” Mr. Tulfo said. “The Filipino people have raised a clear and resounding clamor— Return the people’s money, and lower taxes.”

The administration has come under pressure after reports of billions of pesos allegedly siphoned off through irregular flood mitigation projects. — Adrian H. Halili