President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has recently approved a bill seeking to exempt minimum wage earners from paying income tax and increase personal exemptions for other workers and employees. The new law is supposed to provides relief for millions of ordinary Filipinos reeling from the present economic crisis. But the additional take-home pay it is expected to provide is a mere pittance considering how high the value-added tax (VAT), an imposition of the Bretton Woods Twins, has driven the prices of prime commodities up and provided a windfall in tax collections for the Arroyo government.

BY FLON FAURILLO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 20, June 22-28, 2008