TRAIN LAW

By: Bless Quinelle Claude T. Cabañero

The TRAIN Law came into existence because Filipino workers have repeatedly had complaints because the
country had tax which had rates that were too high, despite receiving poor public service.

As expected with most laws, there were people who were in disagreement with the passing of this law,
and some might say that this is definitely to be expected because of the clear disadvantages they see from
this particular law, specifically on the people who earn low amounts.

As an overview of the TRAIN law, it is divided into packages, which are basically, lowering the rate of
income tax, even those of corporations, and at the same time, rationalizing incentives for fiscal tax,
alteration of the taxation of property and capital income, and the creation of methods for the
government, in order for them to avoid losing income.

Now, with these out of the way, what do these things bring? Well, they may still bring advantages to the
people, but disadvantages still exist, and both of these sides have the potential to come into existence.

Some advantages include, the possibility of people having higher pay, which would increase the power of
people of spend, well, specifically those who have at least 40k or less, income every month. The collecting
of taxes will also have its efficiency maximized even further, while income will come in better rates for
businesses and such, which can also be used for the governments projects.

However, as stated earlier, disadvantages do still exist, and some of them include things like having
increased taxes in terms of property because of increase of the valuation of the property as well. In terms
of investments and investors, in particular, they may be disheartened because some incentives from the
PEZA will be removed. Now, for businesses on the smaller scale, their payment of taxes may actually get
bumped even higher, which would, of course, be inconvenient for them.

With all these laid out before you, what do you think? Is the TRAIN law beneficial or a detriment to the
advancement of the Filipino people and its economy?

Only time will tell, as more advantages and disadvantages will be revealed. The single conclusion that can
be attained from these things today is that, establishing this law will yield beneficial results to the country
but will also push and damage some parts of this economy, so until these disadvantages can be dealt with,
like how smaller businesses will be affected greatly by this, the passing of this law must be carefully
considered for a longer time, preferably when solutions to these potential threats to our economy can be
dealt with.

Reference:

Duranschulze. (n.d). The Pros and Cons of the Proposed Tax Reform in the Philippines.
https://www.duranschulze.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-the-proposed-tax-reform-in-the-philippines/