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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY
Salceda: P36-b
UCT for 10m
poor families
THE gdvernment's unconditional cash
transfer (UCT) program, a financial
assistance scheme for poor Filipinos
will eet an additional Pl2 billion in the
20l9"national budget that will cushion
the impact of-the Tax Reform for Ac-
celeration and Inclusion (TRAIN) on
low-income families
The amount will directlY benefit l0
million poor households, said Albay
Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda. UCT's origi-
nal proponent and principal author of
the TRAIN measure in the House of
Reprcsentatives.
The additional amount brings io
P36 billion the UCT outlay from 20ll
Salceda said. Its benehciary families'
which oonstitute the lower half of the
poorest Filipinos. will receive an ad-
ditiona! P300 monthly, higher than the
P200 they got in 2018 under the P,ro-
gram.
The UCT outlay was first PloPosed
by Salceda in House Bill4688, the first
TRAIN bill, as an income transfer to
the poor from the high-income fami-
lies. lt is designed to result in a positive
incomp increase for the lower half of
the lowest income Filipino families.
The Albav lawmaker said the addi-
rional UCT would more than offset the
tax imoacts under TRAIN, resultjng in
a +6.7 Dercent income hike for the low-
est l0 Dercent of the population after
considering the estimated TRAIN im-
'pact on the Poor's consumptlon'
This will be funded from the Pro-
ceeds of the increased tax on oil, 54%
of which is consumed bY the toP 20lo
ofFilipinos. and other taxes bome
mainlyby the top income classes. said
Salceda. also a noted economlst
"The UCT is a legislative break-
throup,h as it is a precursor to a unt-
'r,,"r"ulb*ic income regime where low-
income se€lments ofsociety arc assurcd
of frnancial means by the state to ac-
cess their basic needs without restrict-
ins their choices or their consumption
oriferences," he said
' "Conceived as a safety net policy rc-
t".-. trt" uci, rto*evei. can very weli
be a major instrument of the. stat for
social juslice. given the coirrcidence
of inequality and growth under a glo-
balized market-based private sector-
driven economies," he added.
TRAIN is the first Package under
the Dutcrte administration's Compre-
hensive Tax Reform Program, which
among others, slashes Personal in-
come tax (PlT) rates lor those earn-
ins below P2 million and provides for
siirplified and lowered rates for donor
and estate taxes.
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