Comelec asks next Congress to legislate tax exemption for teachers’ election honoraria

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Sunday appealed to the next Congress to pass into law a measure that would exempt teachers’ 2022 election service honorariums from taxes.

In a Super Radyo dzBB interview, poll commissioner George Garcia said that they had written to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) twice to lift the 20% tax on the honorarium for teachers serving election duties in the upcoming elections.

“Kami ay sobrang nakiusap na baka pwedeng ma-exempt man lang. Ito naman ay honoraria lang, hindi naman talaga sahod. Isipin niyo, tinaasan nga namin eh, dinagdagan namin ng P2,000 ‘yung matatanggap nila,” he said.

“Kapag binawasan pa sila ng 20%, ‘yung tinaas namin, ‘yun din ang ibabawas,” he added.

(We begged them to exempt the teachers from the tax. This is just honoraria, not a salary. We did increase their honoraria to P2,000. However, this 20% tax would just take away the increase.)

During the Senate Committee on Ways and Means hearing on Thursday, both the BIR and the Department of Finance (DOF) were firm that they did not support the proposed tax exemption, citing the provisions of the Tax Code and the TRAIN Law.

Due to this, Garcia said that Congress and the Senate should work together to come up with a resolution to grant the said tax exemption for teachers’ election services honoraria.

“Panawagan natin sa ating Kongreso, sa susunod na Kongreso, sana mapag-isipan na talaga natin na maisabatas ‘yan na dapat exempted ang kinikitang konti ng ating mga teachers, ng ating mga workers sa mismong araw ng eleksyon sa mismong pagbabayad ng income tax,” he said.

(We call on the next Congress, to legislate that the meager income of our teachers and our workers on elections be exempted from the income tax.)

Based on Comelec Resolution No. 10727 promulgated November 2021, persons rendering election-related service are entitled to the following honoraria:

• Chairperson of Electoral Board (EB) - P7,000
• Members of EB - P6,000
• DepEd Supervisor Official (DESO) - P5,000
• Support Staff - P3,000
• Medical Personnel - P3,000

The Department of Education earlier said that those who will serve in the 2022 elections will be granted an additional transportation allowance of P2,000, a communication allowance of P1,500, and an anti-COVID-19 allowance of P500.

Garcia said they promised those who will serve in the 2022 elections that they will receive their respective payments within 15 days after the May 9 polls.

“Kapag may nangyaring sumobra sa panahon na binigay namin, kakasuhan namin ang lahat kahit pa ‘yung mga empleyado ng Commission on Elections. Dapat maibigay po lahat ‘yan kaagad sa mga teachers natin,” he added.

(If it goes beyond the date we have set, we will sue everyone, even the employees of the Commission on Elections. The payment must be given to our teachers immediately.) — DVM, GMA News