Minority bloc: Aquino deaf to clamor for tax cut

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino does not listen to his “bosses” on the proposed reduction of income tax, members of the House minority bloc said yesterday.

“The people are clamoring for lower income tax rates. The President is obstinately opposed to it. He is not listening to his bosses. That shows his insensitivity,” Rep. Silvestre Bello III of party-list group 1-BAP told a news conference.

“I have not differed with the President on major issues and criticized him in public in deference to his mother, but not on this important proposal for tax relief for our people,” he said.

Bello, a former justice secretary, was commenting on Aquino’s statement in Kuala Lumpur last week. The President reiterated that he was opposed to the proposed income tax reduction, calling the proposal a “papogi” measure intended to earn brownie points with the public.

Bello and other members of the minority urged administration allies in the House of Representatives and the Senate to ignore Aquino’s opposition to their tax reduction bills and tackle and approve them.

“If they are really for tax reform, they should pass a lower income tax bill. Let the President veto it,” Rep. Neri Colmenares of party-list group Bayan Muna said.

He said Aquino could not dictate on what his allies in Congress should do.

Bello said he doubts whether the President would veto a tax reduction bill.

The proposal calls for adjusting rates for inflation because the prevailing rates have not been adjusted since 1997, he said.

The principal proponents of lower income tax are Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, Senate ways and means committee chairman, and his House counterpart, Marikina Rep. Romero Federico Quimbo.

Colmenares said Angara and Quimbo are not after “papogi” points.

“Sen. Angara is not up for re-election next year, while Rep. Quimbo is running unopposed in his Marikina district. I cannot see the ‘papogi’ motive here,” he said.

He said adjusting tax rates for inflation is an issue of justice for millions of salaried workers.

With Aquino’s repeated opposition to the proposed lower income tax, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. has given up on the proposal.

He said lawmakers should instead work on measures that have better chances of being approved and getting the President’s support.

Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez appealed yesterday to his colleagues to heed the people’s strong clamor to pass the proposal to reduce income taxes to show that Congress is not a rubber stamp of Malacañang.

Romualdez said Congress under the Constitution could override President Aquino’s veto should he reject the income tax bill that will be approved by lawmakers.

“Let’s show our resolve to fight for the welfare of the people even with the prospect of it being vetoed,” he said.

He said Article VI Section 27 of the Constitution states that Congress can override a presidential veto by a two-thirds vote.

Majority Leader and Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, however, said the House committee on ways and means has yet to endorse the bill to the plenary.

The measure seeks to adjust the individual tax brackets, unchanged since 1997, to inflation.

Quimbo, chairman of the panel, said he was awaiting the inputs of the Department of Finance to be fair.

“It’s very easy to say that any bill that has been vetoed by the President can be overridden by Congress. It’s easier said than done. In my experience as a member of the House, there was no bill that was vetoed that was overridden by Congress,” Gonzales said. – With Paolo Romero