The Supreme Court's (SC) affirmation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law emboldens the House of Representatives--particularly the Committee on Ways and Means--to continue pursuing tax reform measures.
“The ruling upholding the constitutionality of the TRAIN Law demonstrates the Court’s commitment to upholding its usual respect for the primacy of Congress in enacting tax legislation," Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda said.
Salceda, an economist, chairs the ways and means panel.
“The ruling affirms that, indeed, Congress is where tax law is written. That strengthens the hand of the House Committee on Ways and Means to continue its policy reform and tax oversight efforts,” he noted.
On Friday, the High Court upheld the Republic Act (Ra) No. 10963 or the TRAIN Law, which Salceda principally authored during the 17th Congress.
"If the law were voided, major increases in the takehome pay of average taxpayers would have been nullified – including the 5 percent or so increase in takehome that workers received from the TRAIN law this 2023,” the Bicolano said.
“Of course, we are committed to a progressive tax system. That said, this is a matter for Congressional debate, not a matter for courts to decide. And the ruling affirms this," he said.
READ THIS TOO:
“Moving forward, we are committed to performing our duty of indeed evolving a system of taxation that is truly progressive – not only in the burden it imposes, but also the benefits of what it collects. And part of evolving a progressive system of taxation is ensuring that the burden actually gets imposed on the intended taxpayers. And that means fighting smuggling and tax evasion, which my Committee has done committedly," he further said.