Teachers demand tax refund from Comelec

MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) last Friday demanded tax refund from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the services they rendered during the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls in October last year.

In a statement, ACT national chair Joselyn Martinez maintained that the honoraria that they received for their election duties were exempt from taxes. 

“We are here to remind Comelec of their debt to thousands of teachers whose poll service compensation was wrongly deducted a five percent tax in 2018, lest they forgot,” Martinez noted.

Also last Friday, ACT members submitted their demand letter to the Comelec that had automatically deducted the taxes.

According to Martinez, their documents showed that teachers in at least 10 regions have not received their refund as of last March.

“The meager compensation teachers receive for poll services is a product of years of advancing teachers’ rights and welfare inside and outside the (Congress),” she said.

Martinez noted that with the deduction, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Comelec have “undermined the victory” of the Election Service Reform law.

“The deductions made against tax-exempt teachers in 2018 was in itself a grave injustice to them. The overdue refund only adds insult to injury,” she said.