Voting 17-1, the Senate has finally passed on third and final reading the first package of the comprehensive tax reform program of the Duterte administration.
Only Senator Risa Hontiveros, an opposition member, voted against the bill also known as the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN). A counterpart measure was already approved in the House of Representatives last May 31.
The 17 senators who voted in favor of the measure are the following: Senator Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means; Senators Nancy Binay, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, JV Ejercito, Francis Escudero, Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard Gordon, Gringo Honasan, Loren Legarda and Manny Pacquiao.
Senators Grace Poe, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar, Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senate President Aquilino “Koko”Pimentel III also voted in favor of TRAIN.
Senators Panfilo Lacson and Francis Pangilinan responded to the roll call but did not participate in the voting while Senators Bam Aquino and Antonio Trillanes IV were absent. Senator Leila de Lima could not participate in the proceeding as she has been detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City over drug charges.
“I voted to reject the Senate’s version of the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Bill. The TRAIN bill ran out of steam for comprehensive reform. It fell short of its promise to genuinely reform our tax system to make it more equitable and beneficial to poor families, and reshape consumer behavior towards a more health-conscious populace,” said Hontiveros, who stood up to explain her vote.
“Despite the gains in increasing taxes on coal and mining, which I was more than happy to lend my voice and vote to, I feel that not enough care and not enough meticulous effort has been put into making sure that the TRAIN becomes more than just a tally of new revenue flows and another burdensome law to tax the people,” she said.
If the Senate was not in such a rush to get the bill passed, Hotiveros said the Senate would have had enough time “to simmer down, compose ourselves, and see the wisdom” of the proposal to lower the value-added-tax (VAT) rate from 12 percent to 10 percent.
The Senate version of the measure proposes, among others, tax exemption starting January 1, 2018 for individuals earning P250,000 and below a year.
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