Congress ratifies tax reform bill

MANILA - Both houses of Congress ratified the bicameral committee report on the Tax Reform for Accelaration and Inclusion Bill (Train) late Wednesday, December 13.

The bill is now awaiting President Rodrigo Duterte's signature.

The Senate voted 16-4 to adopt the bicameral committee report Wednesday evening while the House of Representatives leadership proceeded to the voting, despite the motion of ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio to halt the proceedings for lack of quorum.

Once signed into the law, the bill seeking to increase the take home pay of Filipinos will take effect on January 1, 2018.

Tinio said on Thursday, December 14, that the ratification by the House was invalid as no vote was taken, not even viva voce.

"With barely 10 people on the floor and despite my very clear objections due to obvious lack of quorum, the presiding officer and majority floor leader proceeded to adopt the final report of the tax reform bill's bicameral conference committee, copies of which were not even on hand," he said.

"Since there was no quorum and no actual vote was taken, the alleged ratification is clearly invalid," he added.

Tinio said he will file a complaint before the Supreme Court, saying the ratification violated Rule 10 Section 63 of the House on Conference Committee Reports which states that "a conference committee report shall be ratified by a majority vote of the Members of the House present, there being a quorum."

Under the bill, the income tax rate of individual income earners will be reduced.

It exempts from paying taxes the first P250,000 annual taxable income, meaning those earning P21,000 a month would no longer need to pay income taxes.

However, to compensate for loss of revenue, Filipinos will need to pay more for fuel, automobiles, tobacco products and sugar-sweetened beverages as the bill imposes higher tax rate on these.

The Congress expects P130 billion in proceeds from the tax reform program. SunStar Philippines