 On December 19, 2017, President Rodrigo R.

Duterte signed into law Package 1 of the

Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) also known as the Tax Reform for Acceleration
and Inclusion (TRAIN) as Republic Act (RA) No. 10963. The Law took effect on January 1,
2018.

 The TRAIN aims to make the Philippine Tax System simpler, fairer, and more efficient to
promote investments, create jobs and reduce poverty. Along with this objective, the CTRP
also aims to raise revenues that will fund the President's Build, Build, Build Project that will
sustain high and inclusive growth of the country; and finance investments in our people
through enhanced education, health and social services.
  In a separate message, President Duterte has vetoed certain provisions of the TRAIN.
The vetoed five line items are the following provisions:

1. Reduced income tax rate of employees of Regional Headquarters (RHQs), Regional

Operating Headquarters (ROHQs), Offshore Banking Units (OBUs), and Petroleum Service
Contractors and Subcontractors;

2. Zero-rating of sales of goods and services to separate customs territory and tourism
enterprise zones;

3. Exemption from percentage tax of gross sales/receipts not exceeding five hundred
thousand pesos (P500,000.00);

4. Exemption of various petroleum products from excise tax when used as input,
feedstock, or as raw material in the manufacturing of petrochemical products, or in the
refining of petroleum products, or as replacement fuel for natural gas fired combined cycle
power plants; and

5. Earmarking of incremental tobacco taxes.

BENEFITS OF TRAIN

What will the tax reform fund?

1. Education

 The tax reform will be able to fund investments in education, achieving a more conducive
learning environment with the ideal teacher-to-student ratio and classroom-to-student ratio:
− Achieve the 100% enrollment and completion rates
 − Build 113,553 more classrooms
− Hire 181,980 more teachers between 2017 and 2020

2. Healthcare Services

 With the tax reform, we can invest more in our country's healthcare by providing better
services and facilities:
− Upgrade 704 local hospitals and establish 25 local hospitals
− Achieve 100% PhilHealth coverage at higher quality of services
− Upgrade and/or relocate 263 rural and urban health units to disaster-resilient facilities
− Build 15,988 new barangay health stations
− Build 2,424 new rural health units and urban health centers
− Between 2017 and 2022, hire an
additional 2,424doctors, 29,466nurses, 1,114 dentists, 3,288 pharmacists, 2,682 medical
technologists, 911public health associates, and 2,497UHC implementers

3. Infrastructure Programs

 The additional revenue raised by the tax reform will be used to fund the infrastructure
program of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), which consists of
major highways, expressways, and flood control projects. Funding these major
infrastructure projects is possible with tax reform for our country to sustain high and inclusive
growth.