Budget chief: ‘We should be less of a cry baby’

AMID RISING FUEL PRICES

By TED CORDERO, GMA News, May 30, 2018

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday said Filipinos should not be too complaining as revenue collected from reformed excise tax rates will be used for government services.

“Remember, we had $135 per barrel under GMA so I think we should be less of a cry baby,” Diokno said during a breakfast forum in Pasig City.

The Budget chief was referring to the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, when global oil price reached $135 per barrel.

“The thing to realize is that we’re not going to keep this money in the Treasury. We are going to spend this for mass transit system and who will benefit from this eventually? It’s also the poor,” Diokno said.

The rising prices of petroleum products has prompted calls for the suspension of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, which imposed an excise tax of P2.50 per liter on diesel and raised the levy on gasoline to P7 from P4.35 per liter.

The excise tax rate on diesel and gasoline will hike by P6 per liter and P10 per liter come 2020.

Economic managers expect that the first package of the TRAIN law will contribute a net amount of around P90 billion in fiscal year 2018, part of which will fund the government’s infrastructure projects as well as social mitigating measures to offset the impact of the anticipated increase in commodity prices.

“The right way to look at the fiscal sector is to look at the net incidence… It is how much you pay to the government and how much you benefit from the government,” Diokno said.

“So look at the poorest 10 percent, do you think they pay taxes and how they get from the government? Free education, free healthcare, conditional cash transfer, etc.,” he added.

The Budget chief emphasized that a big part of government’s spending benefits the poor.

“In fact, while we have given away P140 billion in taxes to those who are tax filers we realize that a big chunk of the population do not pay taxes and these are the people who are complaining,” Diokno said.

The TRAIN law reduced personal income tax rates and exempted those earning P250,000 annually.

“They say, ‘Hindi naman kami nag benefit sa tax cut because we’re not paying taxes in the first place.’ That is where the unconditional cash grant is being addressed,” Diokno said.

Around 10 million poor households are the targeted recipients of the unconditional cash transfers amounting to P200 a month or a total of P2,400 this year. It will be increased to P300 a month or a total of P3,600 a year in 2019 and 2020.

For 2018, the government has allocated P25.67 billion for unconditional cash transfers under the General Appropriations Act to help low-income households cope with the slight inflationary impact of the TRAIN law. —ALG, GMA News