PIMENTEL SEEKS SCRAPPING OF PLAN
TO TAX REMITTANCES OF OFWs

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today strongly rejected a plan of the Department of Finance (DFA) to tax the foreign exchange remittances of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Pimentel said OFWs should be entitled to tax exemption of the earnings they remit to their families back home to reward them for their contributions in stabilizing the national economy.

He said the dollar remittances of OFWs should be treated differently from foreign investments which are given certain incentives by the government.

The remittances of OFWs should be tax-free and treated better than foreign investments that are given incentives. The money of OFWs stays in the Philippines. While it is true that foreign investors bring money into the country, they repatriate their profits abroad, Pimentel said.

He said the plan to tax OFW earnings also contradicts the governments persistent claim that its revenue collection has dramatically increased.

Pimentel said the government should think of ways of repaying back to the OFWs for their sacrifices and for their regular dollar remittances, instead of punishing them with a tax imposition.

He said that the government may waive certain fees for OFWs like passport fee to ease their financial burden in seeking for employment abroad.

Pimentel said it is not uncommon to hear of workers selling or mortgaging their houses, farms or work animals in order to defray their expenses for overseas placement.