WHILE Juan de la Cruz has not recovered from the effects of Train 1, another Train is about to hit him.
If the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion reduced Personal Income Tax, Train 2 reduces corporate income tax.
But, both will crush dreams of a comfortable life.
The middle-class dream of a bigger take-home pay was easily crushed by the skyrocketing prices of basic commodities that came with the Train 1.
With the arrival of Train 2, now renamed to Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (Trabaho) to disassociate itself from the unpopular Train 1, it is expected that the rich will benefit from more tax cuts at the expense of the struggling (naghihirap) Filipinos.
Instead of implementing a progressive taxation, the government worsens its current regressive tax system. Instead of collecting bigger tax from those who can afford, it passes the burden to the general public.
To quote the independent think-tank Ibon Foundation, “Train 2 worsens the regressiveness of the tax system on top of what Train 1 did by reducing CIT collections to increase corporate profits. At the heart of Train’s tax reforms are huge cuts in direct taxes especially on CIT and PIT and also in estate and donor taxes. This will increase the wealth, income and property of the rich. The Duterte administration compensates for the revenue losses from those tax cuts by indirect taxes which tax consumption including by the poor – regardless of their lack of wealth, income and property.”
The government needs to collect more taxes in order to fund its grandiose “Build, Build, Build” project.
Yet, it decreases collection from the rich who can actually pay without even diminishing the quality of the standard of living of their families. Instead, it focuses its tax collection on consumer goods where the country’s poorest suffer the most.
With the country’s inflation surging at 6.4 percent, the impending implementation of Train 2 is like adding more insult to the already injured wallet of Juan de la Cruz. Once again, it is Juan de la Cruz who is being tricked.
Immediate economic relief is then imperative. For one, the country’s economic managers should start addressing the problem instead of denying it. A review and repeal of regressive taxation is in order.