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These estimates are based on the 2018 projected monthly income of people across income groups (deciles).įocus on the orange bars first, which show the raw impact of TRAIN’s new taxes.

Throughout, I computed the effect of TRAIN on single persons in the private sector with 4 dependents each.įigure 1. But it will also hurt the incomes of the poor.įigure 1 summarizes the net impact of TRAIN on the take-home pay of people with different incomes, using the DOF’s official Tax Calculator. Sure, its taxes reduce the incomes of the richest individuals, like CEOs and other top taxpayers. The biggest problem with TRAIN is that it’s not very progressive. ( READ: Duterte wants 2 nd tax reform package to fund teachers’ salary hike)

Any imperfection can still be fine-tuned and remedied in the future packages. Remember that we’re just on the first package of TRAIN. While a step in the right direction, many of TRAIN’s well-meaning provisions got watered down by politicians. įourth, TRAIN included provisions to simplify our overly complex tax system, like limiting income tax returns to 4 pages and requiring quarterly rather than monthly filing for certain forms.īut : This doesn’t solve other key administrative issues, such as chronic corruption in the Bureau of Customs.Īll in all, the first package of TRAIN was an opportunity to correct many problems that have long ailed our tax system. Lawmakers even managed to pass tax cuts for luxury cars. Third, TRAIN imposed taxes on goods that produce socially undesirable effects, such as petroleum products (for the pollution they create), automobiles (for the congestion they cause), and cigarettes and sugar-sweetened beverages (for the health problems they pose).īut : These tax hikes ended up lower than expected because of intense lobbying from the affected industries. Second, TRAIN aligns with the usual prescription of economists to “widen the tax base”: that is, to tax more goods rather than less, because this gives us more room to lower the tax rate on any one good.īut : While TRAIN removed many tax exemptions, it also introduced new, almost arbitrary ones, like electric vehicles and pickups. In doing so, TRAIN adheres to the basic idea that people should be taxed for what they take out of the economy, not for what they put into it.īut : The new income taxes will matter little to the poor (since many of them are minimum wage earners and tax-exempt to begin with) and those in the informal sector (like taho vendors, jeepney drivers, sari-sari store owners). After more than a year of debates and concessions, however, a lot of these good ideas ended up being watered down.įirst, TRAIN cuts personal income taxes and hikes taxes on certain products like sugar-sweetened beverages and petroleum.

It may be hard to believe, but a lot of good economics actually went into the very first draft of TRAIN. Without enough offsetting transfers delivered by the DSWD, the poor will lie dangerously close to TRAIN’s tracks. I argue that, while TRAIN is good for Filipinos in general (especially in the long run), it will hurt the incomes of the poor (especially in the short run). So it’s really hard to say whether TRAIN is categorically “good” or “bad”.īut let’s try to answer it anyway.

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Tax reform is, by nature, a series of pluses and minuses.

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There’s a great deal of confusion and fear now surrounding the new tax reform law or TRAIN, so much so that even high-ranking government officials are spreading wrong advice on how to deal with it.īut many are genuinely interested to know: when all is said and done, is TRAIN good or bad? How will it impact ordinary Filipinos?

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