Senate Bill No. 2149 aims to reduce the maximum income tax rate from the current 32% to 25% by 2017 to help the Filipino working class earn more from their take-home pay thus helping them save more for their family!

Filipino workers pay the highest income tax in the entire Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, according to the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP).

A position paper submitted by the TMAP to Congress, where several measures to bring down the tax rate or tax bracket are being tackled, showed the Philippines has the highest applicable personal income tax rate.

Consider the comparison:

Filipino worker earning P500,000 annually — 32% income tax

Vietnamese worker earning equivalent of P500,000 — 20% income tax 

Cambodian worker earning equivalent of P500,000 — 20% income tax 

Cambodian worker earning equivalent of P500,000 — 12% income tax 

Malaysian worker earning equivalent of P500,000 — 11% income tax

Thai worker earning equivalent of P500,000 — 10% income tax

Singaporean earning equivalent of P500,000 — 2% income tax

Bruneian worker earning equivalent of P500,000 — no taxes

TMAP President Rina Manuel said it's really time to lower the tax bracket or amend the tax bracket to make it equitable.

"Yung corporations are only subjected to 30 percent tax rate while individuals are taxed 32 percent. Ang corporations may deductions pa, while ang empleyado personal exemptions lang at additional for the children," Manuel said.

Also included in the TMAP's position paper is the tax exemption of marginal income earners, whose income are actually small yet are taxed 5 percent, the minimum income tax level.

While a minimum wage earner is tax-exempt, getting additional income no matter how small in excess of the minimum wage, the whole income will now become taxable. <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
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