Press Release
October 2, 2008

ROXAS TO GOVT: HUWAG MADAYA, HUWAG MARAMOT
ROXAS, TUCP GO TO SC VS. HALF-YEAR EXEMPTION FOR MINIMUM WAGERS

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas, together with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, will file tomorrow, Friday, their petition asking the Supreme Court to compel the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Department of Finance to grant a whole-year income tax exemption for minimum wage earners.

"Ang panawagan naming sa gobyerno: huwag madaya, huwag maramot. Unahin ang kapakanan ng manggagawa sa panahon ng krisis," said Roxas, principal author of Republic Act No. 9504.

"Nagkakaisa ang mga manggagawa laban sa 'half-baked' na pagpapatupad ng tax exemption para sa mga minimum wage earner. Dahil alam nilang kung gugustuhin lang ng gobyerno, puwede naman itong ibigay nang buo," he said.

The DoF recently issued the implementing rules and regulations of RA 9504, as found in Revenue Regulations 10-2008, which only grants the tax exemption for minimum wage earners only starting July 6, 2008, the law's date of effectivity, contrary to Congress' intentions and jurisprudence.

The Ilonggo senator noted that the Supreme Court, in Umali vs. Estanislao, had already ruled in 1992 that Republic Act No. 7167, which increased personal exemptions for individual taxpayers and was made effective on January 30, 1992, was applicable to income earned from the beginning of 1991.

"Sinabi na ito noon ng Korte Suprema: pwedeng ipatupad ang tax exemption mula sa simula ng taon, hindi lang mula sa kung kailan ipinasa ito. Kampante ako na bibigyang-halaga ng Korte ang panawagan ng mga manggagawa para sa kagyat na ginhawa," he said.

Earlier this week, Roxas met with TUCP officials so as to formulate a plan of action against the BIR and DoF's intention to collect an additional P2 billion from workers through only a half-year tax exemption. This translates to a loss of about P5,000 for each minimum wage earner, with an additional collection of P36 from each worker per day for 136 workdays from January to July 4 of this year.

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