Pinoys among most heavily taxed in Asia – Chiz

BUTUAN CITY—Independent vicepresidential contender Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said the “Gobyernong may Puso” would cut income tax rates to increase the take-home pay of millions of Filipino salaried workers who are among the most heavily taxed people in Asia.

Escudero said that lowering the country’s personal income tax rate, which at 32 percent is one of the highest in the continent, would be the on top of the legislative agenda of his running mate, Sen. Grace Poe, if she becomes president.

“We have one of the highest tax rates in Asia. It’s really time to bring them down. We intend to do this, especially the income taxes of workers,” Escudero said in a recent radio interview.

He said that if the government cannot raise the salaries of private sector employees, it might as well ease their tax burden to boost their take-home pay and help them keep up with the rising cost of living.

“If we cannot raise their salaries, then we can certainly raise their take-home pay,” said Escudero, who is responsible for exempting minimum wage earners from paying the income tax, or Republic Act 9504.

There are around 39 million people comprising the nation’s labor force and about 36 million of them are in the private sector.

While the country’s estimated 1.53 million state workers have been recently granted an increase in pay and benefits, private sector employees only received minimal pay increases in the last five years, the latest of which was in April 2015 when P15 was added to the daily minimum wage in Metro Manila.

The wage adjustment, the fifth under the Aquino administration, raised the minimum pay to P481 for workers in the non-agriculture sector from P404 in 2010.

Since 1997, when the Tax Reform Act was passed, tax brackets in the Philippines have not changed. Salaries, however, have been adjusted to inflation, pushing more wage and salary workers into higher brackets, which compel them to pay higher taxes.