TRAIN LAW ITIGIL MUNA

NANAWAGAN si Senador JV Ejercito sa economic managers ng pamahalaan na suspendihin muna ang implementasyon ng Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law upang maibsan ang epekto ng inflation.

Reaksiyon ito ng senador sa mabilis na pagtaas ng inflation rate na umabot na sa 4.5 percent noong Abril.

“It might be wise to consider suspension of the TRAIN law if the trend continues to breach the inflation threshold,” wika ni Ejercito.

Naalarma ang senador dahil nitong buwan lamang ng Marso ay umakyat sa 4.3 percent ang inflation rate kumpara sa 3.8 percent  noong Pebrero.

“The economic managers should seriously review the TRAIN law given the upward trend of the num-bers. They should assess whether the increase in inflation is still manageable. Otherwise, implementa-tion of TRAIN 1 should be suspended and re-studied,” ani Ejercito.

Matatandaan na nang magsagawa ng Senate deliberation sa panukalangTRAIN, siniguro ng Depart-ment of Finance (DOF) at National Economic Development Authority (NEDA)  na tataas lamang sa 0.7 percent ang inflation level hanggang sa projected 2-4 percent target nito.

“My worst nightmare about the TRAIN law has become a reality. I had warned this before that the TRAIN is inflationary in nature. The common people may not know what inflation is, and they don’t care. What they do know and what they care about is that prices of food and other necessities have all gone up,” ani Ejercito.

Binanggit pa ng senador na ang ideya ng tax reform ay para mabawasan ang personal income tax at bigyang kapangyarihan ang publiko na makapamili.

“Parang lalo yatang humirap ang kalagayan ng ating mga kababayan. The TRAIN law may be a tool to increase government revenue but does it go hand-in-hand with the government’s anti-poverty ef-forts,” pagbibigay-diin pa nito.