THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers renewed its call to scrap the hefty taxes on poll workers’ honoraria and allowances.

The group pressed President Rodrigo Duterte to sign into law the bill that seeks to exempt from tax election service pay.

“President Duterte only has a few weeks left in office to once and for all show some sincerity towards the welfare of teachers. After six years of repeatedly failing on his promises to significantly hike teachers’ pay, we find it only just for the President to immediately sign into law the tax-exemption bill for election service pay that would mostly benefit teachers before his term ends,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

If the bill gets implemented, electoral board members can get tax reimbursements of P1,800 to P2,400 from their total honoraria and allowances in the 2022 elections, which range from P9,000 to P12,000.

“This would be a relief for teachers especially since the country is in a grave state, largely due to the Duterte admin’s botched handling of the pandemic and the socio-economic crisis. This measure is long overdue, but we need it now more than ever,” Basilio said.

Since 2018 when the Bureau of Internal Revenue imposed levies on election service pay for the first time, ACT has consistently expressed its opposition and lobbied for its scrapping.