Opinion: On Senate Bill 2261

(Yati! I have an earlier post here that was corrupted when the PC I used in a lousy internet cafe in Malaybalay "hanged". )

Thanks to this bill by Senator Ralph Recto, the tax collection scheme would be made easier, once enacted.

It will also rationalize taxation in an increasingly isolated and far-out system of governance. Imagine, at present single people like me could be taxed more just because we are not yet "heads of the family", while in reality, in a society of extended families we are not actually free from burden at all. Besides being confused with the manner of filing tax, wala na rin namang tayong security of tenure sa trabaho natin ata.

Well, this could be a good move from the Senate stained with its supposed backlog of much-needed legislation --- but will this really benefit a big number of people, who by the way are earning at levels way below the poverty line?!

Wala na rin namang masyadong trabaho available so people could earn income, from which the supposed exemption would be based! So kahit na e-exempt mo yan, wala rin yan effect kasi wala na ngang income eh!

Sana aside from tax cuts like these or subsidies/exemptions, the government should translate its "million jobs" into real-life jobs not only in juggled statistics, the manipulation of which, the government is good, with the classroom to students ratio as an example.

Pero, sana nga maisabatas din itong 2261!

(Original story)
Senate bill seeks tax exemption for low-income workers First posted 08:17pm (Mla time) June 06, 2006 By Veronica UyINQ7.net

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A BILL is filed at the Senate seeking to exempt from income tax payments those earning below 144,000 pesos.
Senate Bill 2261, sponsored by Senator Ralph Recto, seeks to impose a 35 percent flat-rate income tax on those who earn over 144,000 pesos for two years, 2007 and 2008, to be reduced to 30 percent beginning 2009.
“This bill proposes a standard exemption level of 144,000 pesos to all individual tax payers regardless of civil status,” Recto said Tuesday.
The senator said the measure would simplify the calculation for income tax payments. “We have a tax code that favors those with the best accountants.”
The head of the Senate committee on ways and means described the “Byzantine maze” that individual tax payers go through just to pay taxes. He said the present system also makes tax collection difficult.
The measure also deleted all exemptions for all dependents.