“What our country needs is more opportunities for employment, not infrastructure. More employment means better economy which will alleviate poverty in our country.”
Even before it officially left the station, the mass already expressed their qualms as a sign of anticipation to its toxic black thick smoke. However, the train still pushed through running over anyone on its way.
Known as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, the Republic Act 10963 was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, which promises to provide higher salary for Filipino employees by reducing income tax rates as a result to increasing the rationalizing tax rates in commodity and services.
TRAIN Law needs to be pulled over before it would completely cause negative impact on the economic status of the country. It only exempts everyone from paying taxes in the first Php250K annual taxable income. This means that the others having an income of Php21K and below no longer need to pay for taxes.
However, to pay back for the loss of revenue from income taxes, the citizens would have to pay for the excise tax such as beverage, automobile, petroleum, and coal which basically affects all major operations including the prices of almost all basic commodities.
Due to the increase of excise tax specifically petroleum, everyone can also expect an increase on public transportation fees. In fact, the law imposed an increase of Php8.00 in petroleum products. So it is more likely that fare would increase from Php2.00 to Php3.00.
Sweetened drinks in most university canteens have gone up as much as Php5.00 to Php10.00. In addition, students’ meals including processed food like noodles, siomai, and hotdogs are already multiplying in price.
In a nutshell, salary will only have lesser deductions with the implementation of TRAIN Law. However, for those who are receiving below the minimum salary, the cost of living will be higher since they are also affected with the increase of goods.
Meanwhile, the funds that will be collected from TRAIN Law would be allocated for the government program known as “Build, Build, Build” under the Duterte administration.
But what is the assurance that the funds would really go to where it was promised to be? It would be a doom for the Philippines if part of the money collected from the taxes would also go to Duterte’s Martial Law and Oplan Tokhang schemes that continue to claim innocent lives of young people on the streets.
Is it really for infrastructures or is it just there to feed off the profiteering schemes of foreign companies and investors?
The government would insist that this would help the country and its people, but this is not what we need although collected taxes from the TRAIN Law would benefit funding projects.
A student has generally a Php10.00 or Php8.00 budget for transportation. No matter how small, TRAIN Law would really affect a student’s pocket. It is the masses who suffer from its debilitating effect.
If the Senate will not take action and won’t consider stopping the big threat along our roads, it will eventually deliver the masses in ruins.
What our country needs is more opportunities for employment, not infrastructure. More employment means better economy which will alleviate poverty in our country. Instead of putting much emphasis on slashing and adding taxes, the government should put more focus on giving more opportunities for the people. More jobs, less poverty.
The train needs to be stopped; it needs to be derailed before going off a long, tumultuous journey.
