(Eagle News) – Senator JV Ejercito on Tuesday, May 8, called on government economic managers to suspend the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law to arrest what he said was a rising inflation rate.
“It might be wise to consider a suspension of the TRAIN law if the trend continues to breach the inflation threshold,” Ejercito said in a statement, following what he said were reports the headline inflation rate accelerated to 4.5 percent year-on-year in April, which was reportedly the fastest in more than 5 years.
According to Ejercito’s statement, the Department of Finance and the National Economic Development Authority had said that the measure would likely raise the inflation level by 0.7 percent this year.
The “full-year target,” the statement said, is “2 to 4 percent.”
“Pero mukhang ang layo yata ng sinabi nila noon sa mga numero na lumalabas ngayon,” Ejercito said.
According to the senator, the law was implemented in a bid to decrease personal income tax, thereby giving the people more purchasing power.
He said, however, that the rising prices of commodities would negate the positive impacts of TRAIN law on income.
“Parang mas 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 efforts?” he said.
“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,” the senator added.