Bayan Muna Partylist Rep. Carlos Zarate (CDN PHOTO/CHOY ROMANO)
With prices of goods and services already rising due to the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law and the looming passage of Train 2, a party-list lawmaker said Sunday that the country’s inflation rate would continue to rise.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said, “This is truly unfortunate as it is deplorable considering that majority of consumers’ salaries are below minimum wage and the pittance that the Duterte administration gives through subsidy is hardly enough to tie them down, even it reaches them at all.”
The country’s inflation rate increased to 4.3 percent in March, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Despite the perceived effects of the tax reform law, President Rodrigo Duterte maintained a “very good” performance rating in the first quarter of 2018.
READ: Duterte retains ‘very good’ satisfaction rating in early 2018 poll / Palace hails SWS poll but Duterte support among poor declines
Some said the increase in prices was due to the Train Law which was implemented in January. The Train Law imposes higher excise taxes on fuel products, cars, tobacco, and sugar-sweetened beverages. But it also increased the tax-free cap of 13th month pay and other bonuses to P90,000, as well as the tax income exemption to P250,000.
The Comprehensive Tax Reform Program’s Package 2 or “Train 2” meanwhile, aims to gradually lower corporate income tax rate from 30 to 25 percent while modernizing incentives for companies.
Zarate feared that with the upcoming Train 2, the gap between the poor and the rich would also increase.
“This is just the beginning of the harsh effects of Train 1, and, with the coming of Train 2 that will lower the income tax for corporations, the disparity between the rich and the poor would terribly increase. While poor consumers are being pushed down by Train 1, the rich are getting richer by passing on their tax burden. Now with Train 2, this gap would further widen,” he said,
The lawmaker said there was a need to repeal or at least amend the “regressive and anti-people” provisions of the Train Law.
“There is a need to repeal or at the minimum amend the regressive and anti-people provisions of TRAIN 1. Congress should also carefully scrutinize TRAIN 2; it should not be railroaded and should not burden more our already overtaxed consumers,” he added.
Train 2 is pending in Congress. /cbb