<\/p>\n
SENATOR Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday filed a bill to remove the value added tax (VAT) from the monthly electricity bills of households consuming 150 kilowatt-hour (kWh) or less, amid widespread \u201cbill shock\u201d from soaring electricity costs.<\/strong><\/p>\n After filing Senate Bill No. 2093 or the proposed \u201cKuryente Relief Act\u201d, Hontiveros said that the VAT exemption may remove around P250 to P300 from the monthly power bills of Filipinos considered \u201cenergy poor\u201d consumers\u00a0\u00a0– including low to lower-middle income households now struggling with higher power expenses.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cDapat lang na palawakin ng pamahalaan ang tulong nito mula low income hanggang middle income households na kadalasan ay di naabot ng subsidy programs. Makakatipid ang maraming pamilya kung tatanggalin natin ang VAT sa bill ng mga kabahayang di naman kalakihan ang gamit sa kuryente,\u201d Hontiveros said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Hontiveros explained that under her bill, residential households consuming 150 kWh monthly shall be exempt from paying VAT -and that this exemption shall be reflected in the statement of accounts of consumers \u201cwithout prior need for application.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cOn average, a family of five living in areas like Metro Manila, with minimum wage income, consumes around 100 to 150 kWh per month, since they only need a handful of appliances or have limited air conditioning use. Marami ang ganyang pamilya na makikinabang sa VAT exemption,\u201d she noted.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n While support mechanisms such as the lifeline rate currently exist, Hontiveros said that these only provide \u201climited relief\u201d since these are often strictly confined \u201cto the most marginalized consumers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In contrast, Hontiveros said her bill will benefit all households who will meet the consumption rate limit.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNgayong sumisipa sa taas ang singil ng kuryente, pati middle income families ay nahihirapan na sa bayad sa kuryente. Our tax and energy policies should be more fair and adapt to this concerning reality,\u201d Hontiveros stressed.<\/strong><\/p>\n The senator said that the bill will complement her earlier proposed measure, the proposed VAT Exemption on Systems Loss Act (Senate Bill no. 2076), which seeks to remove the VAT on systems loss charges, and lessen the financial burden on consumers.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cPuspusan nating isusulong itong Kuryente Relief Act at ibang reporma para matugunan ang daing ng mga consumer ngayong panahon ng krisis,\u201d she concluded.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SENATOR Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday filed a bill to remove the value added tax (VAT) from the monthly electricity bills of households consuming 150<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19946"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19948,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19946\/revisions\/19948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journaldailynewsonline.com.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}