DAN JOSEPH P. STA.

ANA BSA IV – 1
Six Certified Public Accountant Board Licensure Examination Subjects
1. Taxation (former Business Law and Taxation)
2. Auditing (former Auditing Theory)
3. Financial Accounting and Reporting (former Practical Accounting I)
4. Advanced Financial Accounting and Reporting (former Practical Accounting II)
5. Regulatory Framework for Business Transactions
6. Management Advisory Services (former Management Services)

ARTICLE
Details of Tax Reform Bill of the Duterte Administration (House Version)
The country’s proposed tax reform package, initiated by the Department of
Finance (DOF) under the administration of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, is getting close to
becoming a law.
The House of Representatives passed the bill on third and final reading in May
2017 with 246 “Yes” votes, nine “No” votes, and one abstention.
It’s still a long way to go, though, since the bill must be taken up and approved by the
Senate and then the two versions (House and Senate) are harmonized in a bicameral
conference committee, before the bill goes to Pres. Duterte for signing into law and
implementation.
What’s included in this tax reform package, dubbed the TRAIN or Tax Reform for
Acceleration and Inclusion? To make it easily understandable, we simplified the
contents of the bill and summarized and showed below highlights of the proposed Tax
Reform Package.

Here are five (5) key highlights of the Duterte administration’s proposed Tax Reform bill.

1. Lowering of personal income taxes, except for high income earners

In the proposed tax reform package which will be used until 2019, those earning
P250,000 per year and below will be exempted from paying personal income taxes.
According to the DOF, this will benefit 83% of taxpayers who supposedly fall under this
tax bracket.
 Those earning between P250,000 and P400,000 per year will be charged
an income tax rate of 20% on the excess over P250,000.
 Those earning between P400,000 and P800,000 annually will pay a fixed amount
of P30,000 plus 25% of the excess over P400,000.
 Those with incomes between P800,000 and P2 million per year will be charged a
fixed amount of P30,000 plus 30% on the excess over P800,000.
 Those earning between P2 million and P5 million annually will pay a fixed amount
of P490,000 plus 32% of the excess over P2 million.
 Finally, the increased income tax rate will be felt by those making more than P5
million per year, who will be charged a fixed amount of P1.45 million plus 35% of
the excess over P5 million.
Beginning 2020, though, the rates will further fall as seen in the table below
summarizing the proposed income tax rates.
Proposed Income Tax Rates – From approval until year 2019
BRACKET INCOME PER YEAR TAX RATE

1 Below P250,000 0%

2 P250,000 to P400,000 20% of the excess over P250,000

3 P400,000 to P800,000 P30,000 + 25% of the excess over P400,000

4 P800,000 to P2,000,000 P130,000 + 30% of the excess over P800,000

5 P2,000,000 to P490,000 + 32% of the excess over

P5,000,000 P2,000,000

6 Over P5,000,000 P1,450,000 + 35% of the excess over

P5,000,000

Proposed Income Tax Rates – Year 2020 onwards

BRACKET INCOME PER YEAR TAX RATE

1 Below P250,000 0%

2 P250,000 to P400,000 15% of the excess over P250,000

3 P400,000 to P800,000 P22,500 + 20% of the excess over P400,000

4 P800,000 to P2,000,000 P102,500 + 25% of the excess over P800,000

5 P2,000,000 to P402,000 + 30% of the excess over

P5,000,000 P2,000,000

6 Over P5,000,000 P1,302,500 + 35% of the excess over

P5,000,000

3. Removal of certain VAT Exemptions

The DOF also proposes to remove certain exemptions on the 12% Value Added
Tax (VAT) in order to generate more revenues. At present, the following entities are
exempted from paying VAT but will start to pay the tax once the bill is approved:
 lease of residential units
 low-cost and socialized housing
 power transmission
 domestic shipping importation
 boy scouts and girl scouts
VAT exemptions found in special laws, except those covering senior citizens and
people with disability. The threshold for VAT exemptions was increased to P5 million
and indexed to inflation every three years. For self-employed and professionals within
the VAT threshold of P5 million, the substitute bill will require them to pay an 8% tax on
gross sales or receipts in lieu of the income and percentage taxes. The tax for those
above the VAT threshold will be based on the 30% corporate income tax rate with
minimum tax.

4. New Excise Taxes on Cars and Automobiles

Cars and automobiles are already presently charged excise taxes but will be
charged additional taxes upon the approval of the tax reform bill. Compared to the
original tax proposal, the approved version in May 2017 includes a fifth price segment,
above P3.1 million, which was absent in the earlier proposals.
The excise tax will be dependent on the importer’s or manufacturer’s net selling
price of the car and this will therefore increase the final selling prices of automobiles in
the country.
The new excise taxes for automobiles are as follows.

Excise Tax on Cars and Automobiles

AUTOMOBILE'S NET
2018 2019
SELLING PRICE

Below P600,000 3% 4%

P600,000 to P1.1 million P18,000 + 30% in excess of P24,000 + 40% in excess of

P600,000 P600,000

P1.1 million to P2.1 P168,000 + 50% in excess P224,000 + 60% in excess

million of P1.1 Million of P1.1 Million

P2.1 million to P3.1 P668,000 + 80% in excess P824,000 + 100% in excess

million of P2.1 Million of P2.1 Million

Above P3.1 million P1.468 million + 90% in P1.824 million + 120% in

excess of P3.1 Million excess of 2.1 Million

5. Tax on Sugary Drinks

Drinks containing sugar such as powdered juice, energy drinks, soft drinks,
bottled iced tea, and other sugary beverages will be slapped with an additional tax of
around P10.00 per liter.
As per the study of the Philippine Association of Store and Carinderia Owners
(PASCO), a non-profit organization of microretailers, prices of sugary beverages are
expected to increase with the proposed tax as follows:
 Soft drinks – from P16.00 to P25.00 per liter
 Bottled iced tea – from P20.00 to P30.00
 3-in-1 instant coffee mix – from P5.00 to P8.00 per sachet
 Ready-to-drink juice – from P20.00 to P26.00
 Powdered juice drink (including powdered iced tea) – from P9.00 to P20.00 per 1-
liter sachet

Sources: Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rappler, GMA News, ABS-CBN News

DAN JOSEPH P. STA. ANA BSA IV – 1
IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING WORLD LITERATURE
1. Expanding horizons
First and foremost, literature opens our eyes and makes us see more than just what the
front door shows. It helps us realize the wide world outside, surrounding us. With this,
we begin to learn, ask questions, and build our intuitions and instincts. We expand our
minds.

2. Building critical thinking skills

Many of us learn what critical thinking is in our language arts classes. When we read,
we learn to look between the lines. We are taught to find symbols, make connections,
find themes, learn about characters. Reading expands these skills, and we begin to look
at a sentence with a larger sense of detail and depth and realize the importance of
hidden meanings so that we may come to a conclusion.

3. A leap into the past

History and literature are entwined with each other. History is not just about power
struggles, wars, names, and dates. It is about people who are products of their time,
with their own lives. Today the world is nothing like it was in the 15th century; people
have changed largely. Without literature, we would not know about our past, our
families, the people who came before and walked on the same ground as us.

4. Appreciation for other cultures and beliefs

Reading about history, anthropology, or religious studies provides a method of learning
about cultures and beliefs other than our own. It allows you to understand and
experience these other systems of living and other worlds. We get a view of the inside
looking out, a personal view and insight into the minds and reasoning of someone else.
We can learn, understand, and appreciate it.

5. Better writing skills

When you open a book, when your eyes read the words and you take in its contents, do
you ask yourself: How did this person imagine and write this? Well, many of those
authors, poets, or playwrights used literature to expand their writing.

6. Addressing humanity
All literature, whether it be poems, essays, novels, or short stories, helps us address
human nature and conditions which affect all people. These may be the need for
growth, doubts and fears of success and failure, the need for friends and family, the
goodness of compassion and empathy, trust, or the realization of imperfection. We learn
that imperfection is not always bad and that normal can be boring. We learn that life
must be lived to the fullest. We need literature in order to connect with our own
humanity.

CONCEPTS OF WORLD LITERATURE

Naturally, the course as a whole is meant to answer this question -- World
Literature (hereinafter WL) is in some sense its contents, and the course is designed to
acquaint you with those contents. However, it is good to provide some basic concepts of
WL so that you will understand why the course is organized the way it is, and in order to
justify some of its activities and objectives.
The simplest way of thinking of World Literature is that it is literature that has a
readership and an impact beyond its original language and cultural area. Examples
include the Bible, and the plays of William Shakespeare, both of which have been
translated into more than 100 languages and are read or performed on every
continent. Another example of this is the Lotus Sutra from 1st c. India. It was translated
into several languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese,
between the 3rd and 13th c, and later it went on to inspire Allen Ginsberg’s “Sunflower
Sutra” in the mid-20th century. Clearly, the phenomenon of World Literature bears some
relation to the broader issue of Globalization. Globalization refers to the ways in which
forces like travel, migration, religious conversion, trade, war, colonization, and the
general circulation of ideas increase connectivity and interdependence of regional
cultures; they increase the interactions between groups of people that previously may
have had little or no contact with each other. The first thing to consider is that World
Literature is a category of literary production, publication, and circulation that has
"legs." This means that it is a work of literature that is a touchstone of local culture; in
other words, it becomes a standard for a local culture. It then becomes an influence on
a regional culture, and later a part of the fabric of global community. It moves from local
to regional to global.

In addition to having legs, “World Literature” is literature that gains in

translation. This means that it may inspire new genres, enrich a local tongue’s
vocabulary through the adaptation of new words, blend with regional concepts, or take
on new meanings at different times and places. These are works that are able to adapt
themselves to and acquire meaning in different cultures.

Simple as all this sounds, like most definitions it hides some complexities, only a
few of which will be aired here. The first one is that it is not so easy to define what
"literature" is, nor to determine where its boundaries lie. According to etymology,
"literature" is anything that is written or printed, i.e. composed of letters. "Literacy," after
all, simply means the ability to read material of any type. However, scholars with titles
that include "Literature" tend to think of their object of study both more narrowly and
(surprise!) more broadly than that. More narrowly, in that the written work we study is
work of the imagination and not factual: poetry, stories, theatrical pieces are literature;
newspapers, legal documents, and chemistry textbooks are not literature.