SENATOR Leila de Lima on Tuesday decried  the regulation issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue imposing a 25 percent corporate income tax on private schools.

She filed Senate Resolution 766 urging President Rodrigo Duterte to suspend the implementation of Revenue Regulation No. 5-2021, which canceled the one percent tax rate provided under Republic Act 11534, or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentive for Enterprises Act.

The chairperson of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development said the BIR’s regulation is contrary to the intent of the CREATE law.

“Private schools are the State’s allies which assist it in carrying out the duty to educate the youth in whose hands the future of this nation depends on. In unduly withdrawing a legislative grant, the disastrous consequences will be so far-reaching that it would essentially lead educational institutions to their demise,” she said.

De Lima accused the BIR of usurping legislative power by having its own interpretation of the law.

“While the power to tax has been said to be the power to destroy, the said power must be used justly and not treacherously in order to maintain the public’s trust and confidence in the government. It must still be exercised with caution to minimize the injury to the proprietary rights of taxpayers,” she said.

Thus, it falls on the Senate to appeal to the President to suspend the implementation of RR No. 5-2021.

“The Senate from which this measure emanated from, and whose intent runs through the veins of the said measure, must assert the spirit of the law. It should not stand idly by while executive agencies substitute the Senate’s will and purpose much to the detriment of the people,” she said.

“Pangulong Duterte, hindi po lahat ng mga magulang na nangahas ipasok ang mga anak nila sa private schools ay mga lumalangoy sa pera at hindi naaapektuhan ng paghihirap at kawalang-kasiguraduhan dulot ng pandemya, pati na ng magiging epekto nito sa ekonomiya sa susunod na mga panahon. Karamihan po sa kanila ay ordinaryong mga manggagawa na naghihigpit ng sinturon para lamang mabigyan ng magandang edukasyon ang kanilang mga anak,” the senator said.