Senator Win Gatchalian wants the teachers’ allowances to be exempted from being taxed as the government is finding ways to increase their take home pay.
Gatchalian said one of the bills he wants to file in the 18th Congress provides for the removal of tax deductions from the honoraria that the teachers receive every elections.
The allowances and honoraria of teachers who will serve as members of electoral boards are tax-exempt only if their annual income fall below P250,000, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Under the Election Service Reform Act, EB chairpersons are entitled to a P6,000 honorarium, EB members P5,000, Department of Education supervising office P4,000 and DESO support staff P2,000. They will also receive an additional P1,000 travel allowance.
“We want to recognize the vital role our teachers play in maintaining the order and integrity of this democratic exercise,” he said.
The President has vowed to increase the salary of public school teachers after working for the salary hike of police and military personnel in 2018.
Under the 4th tranche of the Salary Standardization Law, an entry-level public-school teacher with a salary grade of 11 stands to earn a monthly salary of P20,754.
The government would need some P150 billion to implement the proposed wage hike, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.
But business groups on Wednesday cautioned the government against giving public school teachers an immediate salary increase, recommending instead that the P10,000-a-month raise demanded by a teachers’ group be phased over a period of time.
In a joint statement, six major business and professional groups appealed to the government to delay the salary relief promised, but repeatedly set aside, by President Rodrigo Duterte to the teachers.
The statement was signed by the Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, Action for Economic Reforms, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, Foundation for Economic Freedom, and Philippine Business for Education.
In their appeal, the groups said they appreciated and valued public teachers who “deserve to be compensated better and given better training opportunities and tools.”
But the groups said they did not think that an immediate salary increase was a good idea at this time. They pointed out that an entry-level public school teacher (salary grade 11) actually received 58 percent more in pay than a private-school teacher.
But ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio denounced the groups’ stance, saying the disparity in pay between public and private school teachers should not be used to block the pay hike of the latter.
The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition earlier called for a P10,000 across-the-board salary raise.
The government, however, said that if it were to raise teachers’ salaries by that much, it would be forced to shell out about P150 billion, money it claims not to have.
