Press Release
June 5, 2021

STATEMENT OF SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN ON THE TAX HIKE ON PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

At a time when private schools are struggling to stay afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the imposition of a 25% corporate income tax is not only ill-timed and insensitive. It goes counter to the intention of Republic Act 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) Law, which sought to reduce proprietary educational institutions' income tax rate to 1% in the next three years. Revenue Regulation No. 5-2021 issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), however, has imposed a condition that a proprietary educational institution should be non-profit before it can avail of the reduced rate.

This should prompt the Senate to exercise its oversight powers because private schools will now have to pay higher instead of lower rates. I propose further amendments to the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) to protect private schools from the potential consequences of this policy such as school closures, more job losses, and hampered access to education during the community quarantine.

It is worth noting that in the March 2021 Labor Force Survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority, the education sub-industry reported the largest decrease in the number of employed persons at 248,000.

Tulong, hindi dagdag na pasanin ang kailangan ng ating mga pribadong paaralan sa panahon ng krisis na kinakaharap natin.

News Latest News Feed