One-month income tax holiday proposed amid flood control issues

Senator Erwin Tulfo recommended on Wednesday, 8 October, a one-month income tax holiday amid the anomalous multi-billion flood control projects nationwide.

Tulfo filed Senate Bill No. 1446, or the "One-Month Tax Holiday of 2025" as he acknowledged the need for a “far, extraordinary, and immediate form of relief” that will return benefits directly to the people, particularly the working population.

“The exposure of alleged anomalies on flood control projects, involving billions of pesos in public funds, has gravely eroded public trust in government fiscal stewardship," Tulfo said.

“The welfare of the people is the supreme law. It is therefore just and necessary that the State respond by providing tangible relief to the very taxpayers who sustain it,” he stressed.

Under the measure, the one-time, one-month income tax break will apply to individual taxpayers receiving compensation income, which will be on the first payroll month immediately following the approval of the bill.

For mixed-income earners, only the portion classified as compensation income shall be exempted from income tax.

He explained that the proposed tax relief will not cover the mandatory contributions to the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, PhilHealth, Home Development Mutual Fund, and loan amortizations and other payments voluntarily authorized by the employee.

The bill also includes a non-diminution clause, which will ensure that employers cannot reduce employee wages during the tax holiday month.

“While taxation is recognized as the lifeblood of the State, we must equally recognize that his lifeblood flows from the people themselves,” the Senator said.