Bill seeks to hike tax exemptions on bonuses

Militant lawmakers have filed a version of a Senate bill that seeks to increase the ceiling on bonuses, 13th month pay and other workers’ benefits that should be exempt from taxes.

House Bill No. 3459, filed by Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate, seeks to amend a section of the National Internal Revenue Code.

In their bill, Colmenares and Zarate sought to exempt bonuses, 13th month pay and other workers’ benefits that do not exceed P50,000 from income taxes.

“The ceiling of P50,000 may be increased through rules and regulations issued by the secretary of finance, upon recommendation of the (revenue) commissioner, after considering among others, the effect of the same on the inflation rate at the end of the taxable year,” the two lawmakers said.

Colmenares and Zarate said it was a fact that the salaries of most public and private employees are “generally low compared with the cost of living set by the government.”

They cited a report of the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) in 2012, which said that a family of five needs P5,458 a month for basic food needs and P7,821 a month to stay above the poverty threshold.

The NSCB defined poverty threshold as “the minimum income required by an individual to meet his or her basic food needs and satisfy the nutritional requirements set by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), while remaining economically and socially productive.”

“Put in another way, the food threshold helps measure food poverty or ‘subsistence,’ which may also be described as extreme poverty,” the NSCB said.

Colmenares and Zarate said the sad fact is that while the highest minimum wage in the National Capital Region is P466 as of October 2013, independent think-tank Ibon Foundation said the ideal minimum wage should be P1,034.

The militant lawmakers said Filipino workers had always hoped to have a reprieve from life’s difficulties due to their bonuses and other additional benefits that only come once a year.

“It would mean a lot to the minimum wage earners to be relieved from additional tax burdens for their Christmas bonuses and other benefits,” the two lawmakers said.

Senator Ralph Recto earlier filed a bill increasing to P75,000 the tax exempted amount of 13th month pay, Christmas bonus and other benefits from the current P30,000 set by law.

“We owe it to the people to amend laws that tend to be more repressive than beneficial to the people. In this bill, we intend to breathe life again to the spirit of the law that, during the time of its passage, intended to allow the people to enjoy more of their hard-earned money,” Recto said in his bill. Allan Nawal, Inquirer Mindanao