President Rodrigo Duterte dared opponents of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law not to pay their taxes.
“If you’re against the government’s new tax reform law, just don’t pay the taxes,” President Duterte said in a meeting with municipal and city mayors in Cebu last Tuesday.
But at the same time, the president said that those who would refuse to pay their taxes face a stringent audit from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
“If you don’t want TRAIN, so be it. It’s simple as that You’re against the taxes? O, do not pay,” the President said.
The government has continuously touted the benefits of the TRAIN law, which provides income tax cuts for the majority of Filipino taxpayers while raising excise taxes on petroleum products, cars, coal, sugary drinks, and tobacco to help support the government’s accelerated spending on its infrastructure and social services programs.
The President last December has promised Filipinos higher take-home pay through the reduction of personal income taxes. It also simplified estate and donor’s tax as well as expanded the value added tax base.
Over 10-million Filipino households will also receive P200 a month this year to offset the slight increase in prices due to the higher excise taxes imposed by TRAIN.
Duterte ‘s warning was sparked by a protest action against the controversial new tax law that has been blamed for the rising cost of consumer goods and services.
The law’s constitutionality has since been challenged by two groups before the Supreme Court.
Two separate petitions were filed by militant lawmakers and Laban Konsyumer Inc., through its president, former Trade Undersecretary Victor Dimagiba.
Both petitions argued that the law should be declared unconstitutional since the House of Representatives ratified the bicameral conference committee report—the harmonized version of the TRAIN bill prepared by the House and the Senate—on Dec. 13, 2017 despite the lack of quorum needed to carry the vote to pass the measure.