PATRIXIA BELEN M.
AMORANTO JD1A
TAX REFORM ACCELERATION AND INCLUSION ACT
PROS
WELFARE The legislators who were
responsible for the TRAIN Act
contend that this new tax
measure is pro-people because it
calls for lower income taxes for
individuals. They add that the
reduction in income tax leaves
individual taxpayers more money
to spend on basic necessities.
Income tax payers who earn
P22,000 monthly and below are
exempt from income tax payment
because of the imposition of
TRAIN Law.
The TRAIN Law, which actually
amended or repealed some
provisions of the National Internal
Revenue Code, was enacted to
“enhance progressivity of the tax
system,” “promote sustainable
and inclusive economic growth,”
“improve levels of disposable
income and increase economic
activity,” and enable the
government to provide “better
infrastructure, health, education,
jobs, and social protection for the
people.”
FREEDOM The law was enacted by Congress
and approved by President
Rodrigo Duterte on January 1,
2017.
Since the law exempts or imposes
mitigated income taxes, it gave
the people the freedom to spend
their income more on their basic
necessities.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
CONS
The law itself is anti-poor. There is a
tremendous increase in the taxes to be
imposed on consumer goods, prime
commodities, medicines, electricity,
and fuel. In particular, the prices of
gasoline and fuel products are
expected to increase by three to four
pesos per liter.
Even though their income taxes are
exempt or decreased, they would still
need to spend more money on things
that they might need.
Due to the reduced taxes, the
government need to make up for loss
of revenue. For this reason, certain
goods will have higher taxes and
buyers and consumers should expect
higher prices for fuel and gas,
electricity, vehicles, tobacco, and
other products and services.
The law was ratified by the legislature
in a session that lacked the requisite
quorum because of the legislatures
disapproved of such enactment.
Some of the people disliked the Tax
Reform Acceleration and Inclusion Act
for it was burdensome to them due to
the increased taxes.
PATRIXIA BELEN M. AMORANTO JD1A SOCIAL JUSTICE
TAX REFORM ACCELERATION AND INCLUSION ACT

VIRTUE According to Presidential It’s easy for members of Congress to

Secretary Martin Andanar, the impose higher taxes on basic
benefits are greater, the pros commodities since they are hardly
outweigh the cons because if the affected by such tax hikes.
government collects more taxes,
the revenues will go to the
different investments of our
government and different
projects. If these go to the
projects, jobs will be created and
opportunities will be given more
to the people.

Lawmakers have assured the Lawmakers have assured to

public that measures would be in
place to mitigate the impact of the
consumer price hikes, including
the giving of substantial
allocations to programs designed
to help the indigents and the
elderly.
emphasized and put more taxes on sin
products most especially cigarette
prices which was increased by P2.50
increments. And by 2024, it is
expected that the price will increase of
4% every year.

The TRAIN law, like other policies,

was crafted based on
macroeconomic assumptions by
state economists led by Duterte’s
economic managers. According to
the country’s policymakers, the
TRAIN law has one goal: to make
the tax system simpler and more
fair while shifting the burden off
lower-income segments toward
the “ultra-rich.”