HOUSE TO TRY APPROVING HIGHER WORKERS' TAX EXEMPTION THIS WEEK
MANILA, APRIL 28, 2008 (STAR) The House of Representatives will try to approve the proposed higher tax exemptions for all workers at the latest on Wednesday.“It’s too close, but we will try to make it before Labor Day, which is on Thursday,” Speaker Prospero Nograles said yesterday.
For his part, Majority Leader Arthur Defensor said he expects the ways and means committee chaired by Antique Rep. Exequiel Javier to endorse the bill on higher exemptions to the chamber today or tomorrow.
“After that we can expedite the process so that we can approve it in plenary session on Wednesday, or before Labor Day as agreed upon in last week’s meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council,” he said.
He said House approval of the exemptions would not mean that they would already take effect.
“The bill would have to be passed by the Senate and then signed by the President into law. We hope the Senate would act on it with dispatch,” he added.
The higher exemptions are intended to augment whatever salary increase the regional wage boards would give minimum wage earners.
However, some employers want the exemptions to replace the wage hike, an arrangement that is not acceptable to those pushing for the tax relief.
According to Javier’s committee, it should be ready to endorse the bill on higher exemptions tomorrow for plenary approval.
Over the weekend, in a television interview, Javier said his panel is recommending P200,000 in total exemptions for a working married couple with four qualified dependents.
“The total is P200,000, not P150,000 as previously reported,” he said. – Jess Diaz
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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