A group of non-teaching personnel on Tuesday asked Congress to override by two-thirds votes President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s veto of the tax exemption for honoraria, allowances, and other benefits of poll workers.
“We ask both houses of Congress — the Senate and the House of Representatives — to consider the bill that was vetoed by the president, and hopefully by operation of law shall vote by
two-thirds to override the veto power of the president on that matter,” lawyer Domingo Alidon, president of the 50,000-strong Department of Education-National Employees’ Union, said in an interview.
“We ask them to look into it and hopefully become a law by voting two-thirds votes. We hope that Congress will consider our plights,” Alidon added.
The group expressed dismay on the decision of the president to veto the bill seeking to exempt poll workers’ honoraria from taxation, calling such move as “elitist and anti-poor.”
“I don’t think the president has justifiable reasons to veto the tax exemption for the honorarium given to teachers and non-teaching personnel during the conduct of elections,” Alidon said.
“We appeal to our president not to take away that little privilege under social justice and social obligation of the state,” he added.
President Marcos said he vetoed such bill because it runs counter to the objective of the government’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Program to correct the inequity in the country’s tax system and negate the progressivity of the reforms introduced under Republic Act 10963 or the TRAIN law.”