The House of Representatives filed a bill exempting senior citizens from payment of income taxes, in a bid to help them save up for their retirement.
Party list representative and Chair of the House Citizens’ Committee Rodolfo Ordanes said that most of the senior citizens do not have enough savings during their twilight years because of the increasing cost of living.
House Bill No. 8832 was filed early this month and seeks for the exemption of employed Filipinos, ages 60 years old and up, from paying income tax. Moreover, it calls for tax exemption of their overtime pay, night differential pay, holiday pay and hazard pay.
The said bill would serve as the revision of the National Internal Revenue Code as amended by Republic Act No. 10963, also known as Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act.
Ordanes said that through this bill, the country takes steps in fulfilling the constitutional mandate of protecting the welfare of the elderly while helping them to make the dream of retiring comfortably a reality.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, a comfortable retirement for senior citizens would require P40,000 to P60,000 every month; however, data shows that 75% were not even under the coverage of social security or retirement plans that give pensions every month.
And for the elderly who do get monthly pensions, only 4% are receiving at least P30,000 while 60% are just getting P5,000.
Ordanes concluded that this is the main reason why senior citizens are forced to heavily rely on what they have saved up during their retirement.
