Ratification of bicam report on PWD’s tax exemption hailed

MANILA, Philippines - Senators lauded the ratification of the bicameral conference committee report of the bill exempting persons with disabilities (PWDs) from the payment of the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) on certain goods and services.

The Senate and House of Representatives ratified the measure before going on recess for the Christmas holidays on Wednesday.

 “We in Congress recognize that there is still a lot to be done in uplifting the status of PWDs in our society. I thank our colleagues for the smooth passage of this bill which aims to give reprieve to the plight of over a million PWDs in the country,” said Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, sponsor of the bill and chairman of the Senate ways and means committee.

Under the bill, PWDs will be exempted from the payment of VAT on land transportation, domestic air and sea travel; medical and dental services, including diagnostic and laboratory fees, and professional fees of attending doctors; medicine; funeral and burial services; hotels, restaurants and recreation centers, and theaters, cinema houses, concert halls and other similar places of culture, leisure and amusement. 

The measure also grants incentives to taxpayers who are caring for and living with a PWD, who are within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to the taxpayer.

“We must ensure that these taxpayers are accorded the same privileges insofar as having dependents are concerned,” Angara said.