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Schools need more aid, not more taxes

July 30, 2021 Ryan Ponce Pacpaco 538 views

A LEFT-LEANING party-list lawmaker on Friday welcomed the decision of the Department of Finance (DoF) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) to suspend implementation of Revenue Regulation (RR) No. 5-2021 that imposes 25% corporate income tax on private schools.

“The suspension of the implementation of RR No. 5-2021 that imposes a 25% corporate income tax on private schools is a welcome move from the BIR and the DOF,” Castro said. “As many private schools continue to struggle amid the worsening pandemic situation in the blended distance learning, a substantial increase in tax will cause more private schools to close down.”

“Many private school teachers have been affected by the many school closures due to the high demands of the pandemic. Imposing an increase in the schools’ corporate income tax which also threatens the employment of thousands of private school teachers will not help ease the education crisis,” Castro added.

“Government should provide affected private schools, especially their teachers aid, not impose higher taxes on them,” Castro stated.

“We have received numerous reports of private school teachers who have been retrenched due to closure of schools, lower enrollment rate in private schools and even replaced by new hires. These private school teachers have received little to no aid from the government from their social amelioration programs. Having inadequate budget allocation for these social amelioration program would only mean that many private school teachers will still not be able to avail of government aid,” Castro said.

“With this decision, we also urge private schools not to impose tuition fee increases in the next years as many parents are also still struggling with the demands of the blended distance learning and the worsening economic crisis in the country,” Castro added.

“We welcome the suspension of the implementation of the 25% corporate income tax for private schools. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, our teachers from the private sector have been most affected. Many are on ‘no work, no pay’ contracts and were still excluded from social amelioration programs of government. Our teachers and schools need aid, not more taxes amid the worsening education crisis in the country,” Castro ended.

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