Sunday, July 27, 2008 32% discount for senior citizens lobbied
IN THE wake of the nonstop increase in the prices of basic goods and services, House Speaker Prospero Nograles wants to prioritize during the second regular session the proposal to raise the discount given to senior citizens from 20 percent to 32 percent.
"Increasing the discount by 12 percent would allow our senior citizens to enjoy the full 20 percent discount envisioned by Congress before the imposition 12 percent VAT (value-added tax) on their purchases," Nograles said.
He said he will underline his commitment to facilitate the approval of the measure before December this year when he delivers his speech in the opening of the second regular session of the 14th Congress, a few hours before the highly anticipated State of the Nation Address (Sona) of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Without disturbing the current expanded VAT (e-VAT) system, Nograles said the proposed increase in the discount for senior citizens would cancel out the 12 percent e-VAT currently imposed - effectively increasing to 20 percent the actual discount on basic goods and services being patronized by senior citizens.
On the other hand, the Speaker noted that Representative Ma. Theresa Bonoan-David had earlier filed House Bill 4421 ("An Act Exempting Senior Citizens from the 12-percent e-VAT).
The proposal excludes senior citizens' purchases from the e-VAT coverage.
Nograles said the bottom line is to "help our senior citizens cope with the relentless price increases experienced worldwide resulting from the spiraling prices in energy and fuel in the international market."
He said the proposal will be taken by the committees and the subsequent final report on the issue will be debated in plenary.
"The issue of discount for senior citizens will be given priority. We all owe it to them," he assured.
Nograles, likewise, vowed to pursue all the "practical and needed reforms, with the full cooperation of the multi-party membership of congress, to mitigate the current economic difficulties that "even wealthy nations are not spared of."
"We will not fail our people. We will do what is needed to be done," he vowed.
