Editorial

Riding on TRAIN

There are murmurs against the effect of Republic Act No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law. Why is that?  While it has increased the take-home pay of workers after being exempted from personal income taxes for those earning not more than P250,000 annually, it has also increased the excise taxes on petroleum products, automobiles, and sweetened beverages to offset the foregone revenues from lower income taxes.

Surely, cost of consumer goods and services will rise due to imposition of additional taxes on certain commodities which protesters said added the burden of poor families. Manufacturers dependent on fuel has to raise the cost of products to compensate for the added expenditures. But government financial analyst say the cost increase of affected commodities is only a fraction and should not be the basis for cost exploitation.

But why the excise tax increase? Our government needs sources of revenues for the “build, build, build” program and defraying more welfare benefits such as free tuition in state colleges and universities, wider health and medical coverage, higher salaries for government workers, cash transfer for the poorest, and so on in the list of development agenda. Take note, taxes are the bloodline of any government so long these are not oppressive to the masses. We want to be assured that collected taxes redound to the welfare of the constituents.

To those opposing the TRAIN Law, President Duterte dared oppositors not to pay the taxes but warned of tax evasion cases to be filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. “Do not blame me if the BIR also will go after you. As simple as that,” he said in his visit to Cebu City last February 13.

So what’s it gonna be? Either we don’t buy the needed commodities or we perish for lack of needs. Never mind higher taxes on sweetened beverages, alcoholic beverages, and cigarettes for these make us sick. But those who can afford can still buy these products “at risk,” so the medics would say.

What we can do is to develop the culture of budgeting, spending only on those basic needs and not waste consumption. Many may stand to benefit from TRAIN but at the same time contribute to added cost for accumulation of more revenues which the government needs for its welfare thrusts. People in other countries pay taxes, too, so long corruption is out of the system.

Anyway, do you have any alternative to secure added revenues but not increasing taxes?