CONSTI In re: Art VIII Sec.

10
The salary of the Chief Justice and of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, and of judges of
lower courts shall be fixed by law. During their continuance in office, their salary shall not be
decreased.

Nitafan vs. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

(DAVID
G. NITAFAN,
WENCESLAO
M.
POLO,
JR., petitioners, vs. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE and
COURT OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondents)
G.R. No. L-78780, July 23, 1987

and
THE

MAXIMO
FINANCIAL

A.
SAVELLANO,
OFFICER,
SUPREME

FACTS:
Petitioners David G. Nitafan, Wenceslao M. Polo, and Maximo A. Savellano Jr. are duly
appointed and qualified Judges presiding over Branches 52, 19 and 53, respectively, of the
Regional Trial Court, National Capital Judicial Region, in Manila, seek to prohibit and/or
perpetually enjoin respondents, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the Financial
Officer of the Supreme Court, from making any deduction of withholding taxes from their
salaries.
Petitioners submit that "any tax withheld from their emoluments or compensation as
judicial officers constitutes a decrease or diminution of their salaries, contrary to the
provision of Section 10, Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution mandating that '(d)uring their
continuance in office, their salary shall not be decreased,' even as it is anathema to the
ideal of an independent judiciary envisioned in and by said Constitution."
ISSUE:
Whether or not the petitioners/members of the judiciary are exempt from income tax.
HELD:
No. The salaries of Justices and Judges are properly subject to a general income tax law
applicable to all income earners and that payment of such income tax by Justices and
Judges does not fall within the constitutional protection against decrease of their salaries
during their continuance in office.
The Constitution authorizes Congress to pass a law fixing another rate of compensation of
Justices and Judges but such rate must be higher than that which they are receiving at the
time of enactment, or if lower, it would be applicable only to those appointed after its
approval. It would be a strained construction to read into the provision an exemption from
taxation in the light of the discussion in the Constitutional Commission.
The Court accords due respect to the intent of the people, through the discussions and
deliberations of their representatives, in the spirit that all citizens should bear their aliquot
part of the cost of maintaining the government and should share the burden of general
income taxation equitably.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
The clear intent of the Constitutional Commission was to delete the proposed express grant of exemption from
payment of income tax to members of the Judiciary, so as to "give substance to equality among the three
branches of Government" in the words of Commissioner Rigos. In the course of the deliberations, it was further
expressly made clear, specially with regard to Commissioner Joaquin F. Bernas' accepted amendment to the
amendment of Commissioner Rigos, that the salaries of members of the Judiciary would be subject to the
general income tax applied to all taxpayers.
This intent was somehow and inadvertently not clearly set forth in the final text of the Constitution as
approved and ratified in February, 1987. Although the intent may have been obscured by the failure to include
in the General Provisions a proscription against exemption of any public officer or employee, including
constitutional officers, from payment of income tax, the Court since then has authorized the continuation of

CONSTI In re: Art VIII Sec. 10

The salary of the Chief Justice and of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, and of judges of
lower courts shall be fixed by law. During their continuance in office, their salary shall not be
decreased.
the deduction of the withholding tax from the salaries of the members of the Supreme Court, as well as from
the salaries of all other members of the Judiciary. The Court hereby makes of record that it had then discarded
the ruling in Perfecto vs. Meer and Endencia vs. David (taken up sa Stat Con), infra, that declared the salaries
of members of the Judiciary exempt from payment of the income tax and considered such payment as a
diminution of their salaries during their continuance in office.