THE COMMISSION on Elections on Sunday urged Congress to approve a measure that aims to exempt from tax the honorarium that will be given to teachers who will serve in the elections in May.

“Panawagan natin sa ating Kongreso, sa susunod na Kongreso, sana mapag-isipan na talaga natin na maisabatas ‘yan na dapat exempted ang kinikitang kaunti ng ating mga teachers, ng ating mga workers sa mismong araw ng eleksiyon sa mismong pagbabayad ng income tax,” Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said in a radio interview.

The Comelec, he added, has written to the Bureau of Internal Revenue twice to request that the 20% tax on teachers’ allowances doing electoral duties be lifted.

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

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

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers earlier said that the P2,000 travel allowance of teachers was subjected to 20 percent tax.

The group claimed that the BIR wrongly interpreted the law in classifying the travel allowance as a form of income.

In June 2021, ​the Department of Education proposed the following honoraria rates based on the Consumer Price Index and inflation rate as of January 2021: P9,000 for electoral board chairpersons; P8,000 for EB members; P7,000 for DepEd supervisors; and P5,000 for support staff.