PWDs seek tax perks for potential employers

MANILA, Philippines - Persons with disabilities (PWDs) are asking the Department of Finance to provide more tax incentives to private companies that will hire them even as a ranking finance official said there are already enough incentives provided by law.

The push for additional tax perks for companies hiring PWDs was among the advocacies raised during the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week (NDPRW) held last week.

The group said additional incentives may have to be studied on the back of the government’s goal to improve its fiscal position, raise additional revenues and to avoid incentives that would result in revenue losses for the government. The government has a programmed budget deficit of P279 billion this year from the actual P197 billion incurred last year.

According to Joon Baltazar, public relations officer of Life Haven, Inc., one of the organizers of the NDPR, said the government should provide incentives to companies that would be employing PWDs.

Based on existing laws, private companies get an additional 25 percent deduction from the gross income paid as salaries and wages to disabled persons.

Baltazar said the government could provide a bigger deduction to entice more companies.

For her part, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the department would continuously improve the national employment service to ensure that there are more PWDs in its database.

During last week’s event, PWDs also held a rally before outside the office of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to ensure that public transport facilities are accessible to PWDs.

“We want to make sure that future train stations and/or public transport facilities for that matter are accessible to PWDs and that they should have been accessible from the very start. These inaccessible public transport facilities deprive or hinder PWDs that freedom to engage in regular employment and other necessary day-to-day activities. It’s a form of discrimination because it denies PWDs opportunities available to the rest of society,” Baltazar said.