Will Kim Henares get more of their pay? gov’t workers ask

Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Government workers fighting additional taxes on their allowances and benefits are awaiting the Supreme Court decision on the petition they filed more than a month ago seeking to stop Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares and Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima from further slashing their paychecks.

The Judiciary Employees Association of the Philippines and the Association of Court of Appeals Employees (Acae), among the public employees organizations that went to the high tribunal on Aug. 6, said Thursday Henares and Purisima had yet to file their comments to the petition, as ordered by the court.

“We are awaiting the comments of the BIR [Bureau of Internal Revenue] and DOF [Department of Finance]… once the respondents comment, the case may be calendared,” said Acae president Amiel de Vera.

The Supreme Court on Aug. 19 gave Henares and Purisima 10 days to comment on the petition.

The employee organizations representing some 300,000 government workers impleaded Henares and Purisima in their petition after the BIR issued on June 20 Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 23-2014 mandating that  allowances, bonuses and other fringe benefits of wage earners, previously untaxed, be taxed.

The petitioners included the Confederation for Unity Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage), the umbrella organization of public sector unions, along with employee organizations from the judiciary, Senate, departments of agrarian reform, social welfare and trade, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Water Districts Employees, National Housing Authority and the Quezon City government.

The petition for prohibition and mandamus, which came with a prayer for a TRO, asked the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional provisions in the RMO that mandate deductions on benefits and allowances on top of the 32-percent top-tier withholding tax on basic pay.

The RMO also mandates local government officials to collect and remit the taxes, and imposes penalties on state agents who fail to withhold and promptly remit collections to the national government.

Earlier, Henares said the measure did not seek to impose new taxes.

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