Responding to public outcry, Sen. Erwin Tulfo has proposed an ‘extraordinary measure’ granting a one-month income tax holiday amid the multi-billion-peso flood control projects scandal rocking the government.
‘The exposure of alleged anomalies in flood control projects, involving billions of pesos in public funds, has gravely eroded public trust in government fiscal stewardship. The Filipino people have raised a clear and resounding clamor-‘Return the people’s money. Lower the taxes,” Tulfo said when he filed Senate Bill No. 1446 on Tuesday.
‘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,’ he added.
Under the bill, all individual taxpayers receiving compensation income may enjoy a ‘one-time, one-month income tax holiday,’ which will be reflected in the first payroll month immediately following the bill’s approval.
For mixed-income earners, only the portion classified as compensation income will be exempt from tax.
‘Towards this end, the state shall, as an extraordinary measure, grant a one-time, one-month tax holiday on compensation income, without prejudice to existing social security contributions and benefits,’ according to the bill.
It states that the proposed tax holiday will not cover the mandatory contributions to the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, PhilHealth, Home Development Mutual Fund, and loan amortizations and other payments voluntarily authorized by the employee.
The bill also includes a non-diminution clause, which will ensure that employers cannot reduce employee wages during the tax holiday month.
‘While taxation is recognized as the lifeblood of the State, we must equally recognize that this lifeblood flows from the people themselves,’ Tulfo said.
‘At a time when public confidence has been shaken, this bill provides a fair, extraordinary, and immediate form of relief that returns benefits directly to the people,’ he added.
Various protest rallies were recently held in parts of the country following revelations of alleged massive corruption in the government’s flood control projects.
Separate investigations in Congress also revealed the alleged involvement of some senators and congressmen, who were accused of receiving kickbacks in exchange for these infrastructure projects. /mcm