MANILA: Philippines The Department of Education (DepEd) said teachers stand to benefit from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law as their take-home pay will increase.
On Friday, January 5, DepEd threw its support behind the first batch of tax reforms approved by President Rodrigo Duterte. DepEd said it is in line with Education Secretary Leonor Briones’ commitment to provide “adequate compensation for the invaluable contribution” of teachers to nation building. The agency provided a sample computation for a teacher without dependents with Salary Grade 11. Prior to the Train Law, the said teacher had a basic salary of P19,620 and a take-home pay of P17,220.86. The Train Law, combined with the 3rd tranche of the Salary Standardization Law, will lead to this teacher having, starting 2018, a basic salary of P20,179 and a take-home pay of P20,012.89. “This amounts to a total net increase of 16.21% or P2,792.03 per month,” said DepEd. The said teacher’s chalk allowance will increase from P2,500 to P3,500, while his or her clothing allowance will also increase to P6,000 from P5,000. DepEd failed to mention, however, that as teachers’ salaries increase, so too will prices of goods on which they will spend. The Train Law imposes additional taxes on cars, fuel, tobacco, and sugar-sweetened beverages. A labor union had warned it would file another petition for a wage hike despite the one-year ban if the price of basic commodities become “exorbitant” under the Train Law. As for cars, Honda Philippines has released the new prices of its cars after the new taxes were introduced. This means teachers who wish to buy a Honda car for their families now have to spend P12,000 to P121,000 more, depending on the car model.
