Scrapping the donor’s tax and making the value of donations deductible from income tax will boost the country’s efforts to save frontliners and more lives during calamities, Senator Marcos said.
“Taxes are not the only way to generate much needed government resources. A new world is emerging from this Covid-19 crisis and new ways of looking at things are the key to survival,” Marcos explained.
Marcos, who chairs the Senate committee on economic affairs, said donations from “good Samaritans,” be they individuals or companies, actually fill the gaps in supply chains of food, medical supplies, and other crucial resources needed by the government to aid calamity-stricken communities.
Among the seven bills Marcos filed amid the lockdown, Senate Bill 1429 seeks to cut out the red tape of applying with the Department of Finance for certificates of tax exemption on donations, by institutionalizing full tax benefits for donors.
“This bill means to encourage the bayanihan spirit inherent in us Filipinos and not burden our generosity with taxes,” Marcos said.
The legal benefits proposed in the Marcos bill apply to donations made during a government-declared state of calamity and are retroactive to January 2020 when the Covid-19 crisis was beginning to spread worldwide.
“Our country has faced a cluster of calamities in the early months just this year, like the Taal volcano eruption, the Asian Swine Flu, earthquakes nationwide. These calamities may recur all at the same time, so the spirit of giving must be encouraged,” Marcos added./Stacy Ang
