Besides a wage hike, one way to increase the take-home pay of more Filipino workers and provide them with relief from the continued increase in the already high cost of living is an expansion in the annual income tax exemption, according to Senator Bam Aquino. Thus, he is pushing for the passage of his measure seeking to raise the annual income tax exemption threshold from P250,000 to P480,000.
Aquino’s Senate Bill No. 267 proposes an amendment to the National Internal Revenue Code that would exempt individuals earning up to P480,000 a year from paying income tax.
Filed on July 8, 2025, the measure was one of the first bills filed by Aquino following his 2025 successful senatorial campaign, where Filipinos called for affordable living and increase in take-home pay.
‘This [income tax exemption level] has not moved for many years, so when session starts [July 27], I will have this included as priority legislation in order to provide fast relief to our people and increase their take-home pay,’Aquino said, speaking partly in Filipino.
Aquino said the current exemption level, which was set under Republic Act No. 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, has become outdated as inflation continues to erode workers’ purchasing power.
Aside from easing the financial burden on Filipino families, Aquino said raising the income tax exemption threshold would allow workers to keep more of what they earn, giving them additional resources to spend on essential needs such as food, education, and healthcare, while also helping boost consumer spending and economic activity.
Aquino has also filed several other proposed measures aimed at providing relief to Filipinos amid rising prices of goods and services, petroleum products, and electricity.
To help reduce electricity costs, he filed Senate Bill No. 266, which seeks to exempt the sale of electricity by generation, transmission, and distribution companies, as well as electric cooperatives, from the imposition of value-added tax (VAT).
He is also pushing to reduce the VAT from 12 percent to 10 percent on goods and services, including petroleum products, through Senate Bill No. 2047.