ROXAS: UP TO P8,500 IN SAVINGS/YEAR DUE TO MINWAGE TAX EXEMPTION
OTHER LOWER-INCOME BRACKETS TO BENEFIT FROM ZERO TAX

Senator Mar Roxas said minimum wage earners would now take home as much as an additional P8,500 per year after they have been exempted from income tax.

"We're glad that the law will be enacted soon, and we hope it would be immediately implemented. Our workers, now trying to cope with sky-high prices of oil and food, deserve this additional take home pay," he said.

Based on his computations, a worker in NCR who is single and is earning the minimum wage of P362 per day or P7,964 a month will now be able to take home an additional P710 per month or P8,500 per year that is deducted from his pay as income tax. The savings does not yet include bonuses and other de minimis benefits that have now been exempted from income tax.

Meanwhile, single workers�whether in government or private sector - earning the minimum wage in Calabarzon would now be able to take home P6,175 worth of yearly taxes they paid previously; in Central Luzon, P5,660 per year; and in Central Visayas and Davao, P4,278 per year.

The principal author of the newly-passed law exempting minimum wage earners from income taxes also said other lower-income brackets stand to benefit from an "effectively zero" income tax.

"Other lower-income workers will also have their taxes 'effectively zeroed' because Congress increased the personal exemptions to P50,000 and additional exemptions per dependent up to four to P25,000," he pointed out.

For instance, workers who earn P10,010 a month, are heads of family or married individuals and with three to four children will now be spared from paying income taxes, although they will still be required to file tax returns unlike minimum wage earners. They will now have an additional take home of around P450 to P630 a month, or P5,000 to P7,000 per year.

Also, even if the taxes of workers earning the same salary but are single or have only one to two children to claim as dependents have not been 'effectively zeroed,' they will now be able to take home an additional P450 to P680 per month, or P5,500 to P8,000 per year.

"We've zeroed the income taxes of minimum wage earners and the low-salaried workers. Their savings due to this will help them make ends meet, though we know this may not be enough," he said.

"That is why the next thing we should reduce to zero is the VAT on oil, and the government should stop denying this to the public," he added.