PRESIDENTIAL candidate Jejomar Binay on Wednesday slammed as anti-poor Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares’ outright rejection of the proposals to lower the income tax rates.
“As usual, this administration has once again shown that it prefers to punish the poor rather than uplift their lives. When I am president, there will be a tax cut within my first year in office,” Binay said.
“Kapag para sa ikagiginhawa ng mahihirap, ang laging sagot hindi pwede. Hindi makatarungan na pareho lang ang binabayarang buwis ng ordinaryong manggagawa at milyonaryo. Sa ilalim ng aking pamumuno, wawakasan natin ‘yan.
“To Ms. Henares, the solution is not more taxes. What the people need is tax relief, more jobs, more education, more health care, a better government. There are 26 million poor Filipinos today. This administration has overseen an increase in poverty. Under a Binay presidency, that will end.”
Once elected president, Binay vowed to scrap the income tax for workers earning P30,000 and below. The measure is expected to benefit at least six million workers in the private and public sectors. Soldiers, policemen, nurses, public school teachers and government clerks are just some of those who stand to benefit from his plan.
Binay said any revenue losses from the tax cuts could be easily offset by going after smugglers.
He said the present administration loses P230 billion annually to the smuggling of agricultural products, P30 billion to oil products, and P12 billion to tobacco products.
The potential revenue losses could also be offset by the sale of government assets and the privatization of a number of government-owned and -controlled corporations and by improving tax administration and collection efficiency.
Binay said instead of making Filipinos wallow in poverty, it was the obligation of the administration to help them and ease their burden.