"Change is coming..

" was one of the taglines we've heard during President Rodrigo Duterte's
campaign last presidential election. It might be a short phrase but his words claim a powerful
tone in the ears of everyone, something that every Filipino citizen craves for a long time. But
despite for our eagerness to meet change, can we really handle it as an individual, a group, a
community or as an entire society?

We live in the world that everything is uncertain ---except for tax. Tax is known as the blood and
fuel of the government. It helps the government to meet its functions and provide funds to all
the LGU’s across the nation.

But despite its functions and purpose, taxes seem to be a burden for others since it depend on
the lens they use to view their current socio-economic status.

TRAIN law, also known as The Tax Reform for Accelerating and Inclusion, was introduced in the
Philippines on January 1, 2018. It the first package of the administration's most awaited
comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP) which seeks to redress a number of flaws and
deficiencies in our taxation and to simplify the system in the Philippines.

According to Gialogo, E.G. Train law overhauls the outdated National Internal Revenue Code
(NIRC) which was adopted 20 years ago. Train relatively decreases the tax on personal income,
estate, and donation. As a matter of fact, TRAIN tax law is intended to abet the situation of
middle class and poor by exempting them with Personal Income Tax as long as they have an
annual taxable incomes of P250,000 (two hundred fifty thousand pesos) and below or less than
P21,000 a month (twenty-one thousand pesos) which makes it "pro poor"
President Duterte, along with the Department of Finance, states that through TRAIN tax law, we
might achieve the following by 2040:

• Poverty rate reduced from 22% to 14% (uplifting some six million Filipinos from poverty)

• To graduate to upper middle-income country status from the current low middle-income
country status

• Eradicate extreme poverty

• Inclusive economic and political institutions where everyone has equal opportunities

• Achieve high-income country status

• Peace within the country and with our neighbors

• More healthier Philippines

(Department of Finance, 2018)

This might sound too promising and idealistic for us who wish nothing but the best for our
fellowmen and country but we can never deny that reality will always reveal itself from time to
time. In fact, it is also mentioned by Gialogo that TRAIN tax law increases the tax on certain
passive incomes, documents (documentary stamp tax) as well as excise tax on petroleum
products, minerals, automobiles, sweetened bevergares and cigarettes. This being the case—Oil
retailers, payroll managers, super markets, convenience stores and even street vendors have
begun and kept on updating their price list which led many consumers unhappy because they
have to deal with the excise tax that the government imposed.

As said by Mr. Royd Agapito in an interview with Rappler on the January, 8 2018,
 "I don't think TRAIN will provide significant impact to an average wage earner. It is like the
government is just giving us a new perspective to look at our taxes. You have higher pay, but
electricity, transport, grocery bills will also be higher.."

Agapito represents the situation of most Filipinos with the effects caused by the TRAIN tax law.
In fact, majority of the economic analysts warned us before about the negative aspects that will
happen among others—those who cannot easily adapt to change will be much burdened with
adapting to change.

An example of this situation is the increase in the price of beverages using sugar or artificial
sweetener and drinks using high fructose corn syrup from 6 pesos to 12 pesos per liter. The
reason behind this price increase is to promote a healthier lifestyle of Filipinos by decreasing
the daily intakes of unhealthy food, which often leads to worsening number of diabetes and
obesity cases in the Philippines. However, this increase can't be handled by the poor families
because they can't handle the increase, and not all water or other non-toxic beverages are
cheap or budget friendly. Sweetened beverages aren't the only ones that will be increasing its
price, but also other necessities. This happens because TRAIN increases the excise tax on fuel
which has not been adjusted since 1997. The Petroleum Excise Tax affects the delivery of food
therefore, the prices of food increases which creates a huge problem for consumers.

In conclusion, despite that the TRAIN law puts higher taxes for those wealthy individuals who
earn millions and billions of pesos and less for those who are poor and earns insufficient
amount of money, it proposes to provide a better future for the Filipinos. However, this law
must be employed and regulated properly to ensure that it will not create huge problems in the
end because putting higher tax to basic necessities of the mass is not desirable for our country
but it might give an inimical effect to individuals with low wage income. We must reconside
firstr the capacity and capabilities of all the citizens in this country. We should not pursue
something that could give enormous detriments to our people because the role of government
is to give aid for the people and to resolve the issues. Because throughout our history, there has
been reformation and amendment in our tax system which led to rapid inflation in the
Philippines. As inflation rate increased it led to slowring down the GDP or Gross Domestic
Product of our country. With that people have to deal with such inflation in basic commodities
and necessities. People have to earn more and spend less. Work hard and save more in order to
survive the set up in our society.