Left-handed cut

LEFT-HANDED CUT: The country’s estimated 4.6 million senior citizens can only rejoice with the plan of President Gloria Arroyo to sign into law a bill passed by Congress exempting them from the 12-percent Value-Added Tax on goods and services.

While the present law (RA 7432) gives senior citizens a 20-percent discount, they are still required to pay the 12-percent VAT like everybody else. This has reduced their discount as seniors to only eight percent.

The upcoming amendment will correct the hypocrisy and the unkindness of the government’s left hand taking away more than half of what its right hand has given to citizens aged 60 years and older.

The exemption will reduce revenues, but the savings of seniors will go back into the money stream and help stimulate the economy. Besides, part of the loss can be offset by the plugging of loopholes in the imposition, collection and remittance of VAT.

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COVERAGE: The 20-percent discount will cover medicine and medical supplies and accessories; doctors’ fees; medical, dental, diagnostic and laboratory fees; fares on buses, jeepneys, taxis, shuttle services, public railways, domestic air and sea transport.

The tax exemption also applies to services in restaurants, hotels and similar establishments; admission fees in cinemas, theaters and other places of culture, leisure and amusement; and funeral and burial services.

Under the amendment, an indigent senior shall receive a monthly stipend of P500 subject to the review of Congress in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development. When a senior dies, P2,000 is to be given to his family as assistance.

Senior citizens will get a five-percent discount on their water and electric bills if the utilities are in their name, and if the one-month consumption is below 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 30 cubic meters of water.

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SPIRIT OF THE LAW: To show its good faith, the government must observe the spirit of the law in laying down the implementing rules and regulations.

When seniors eat out with a group, how is the 20-percent discount computed? If all those in the group are obviously seniors but not all of them have their cards, what happens?

At the Aristocrat restaurant on Roxas Blvd., when the bill on take-out food is more than P300, the cashier allows only a flat maximum discount of P60 instead of the full 20-percent of the total bill. Is this right?

At Contis, a senior ordering to-go family-size sotanghon and a dozen empanadas is given only a tiny discount that the cashier decides is the buyer’s “eatable” share in the full order. Is this arbitrary computation legal?

Under the amendment, establishments and their owners, managers and personnel violating the law shall be fined P10,000 to P50,000, or imprisoned for at least one month but not more than six months.

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FREE MOVIES: Makati City is, arguably, the local unit that most pampers its senior citizens, estimated to number 50,000, under a P112-million annual budget for the elderly.

Makati Mayor Jojo Binay has so organized the barangays that he is able to keep track of seniors and extend them socialized services and benefits. Aside from discounts, seniors are given free movie passes, cakes on their birthdays and golden wedding anniversaries.

Makati’s indigent seniors receive P1,000 cash every June and December. When they die, their families get burial assistance. Seniors and persons with disabilities are exempted from the three-hour parking limit in the central business district.