Labor group hits plan to hike professional, self-employed taxes

Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) has criticized the plan of the Department of Finance (DOF) to jack up the taxes of professionals and the self-employed, saying the government should run after tax evaders instead. “It is simply callous and opportunistic for the Aquino administration to tax poor vendors, jeepney barkers, sari-sari store owners, and others in similar employment status," said KMU vice-chairperson Lito Ustarez in a statement on the KMU website. Last Tuesday, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said the DOF is “zeroing in on the self-employed sector," which the government said can be a source of higher tax collections. Ustarez said the government should instead “remove tax holidays for big foreign and local companies, zero in on big tax evaders, and stop milking professionals and the self-employed dry." Citing the supposed special treatment for foreign companies, the labor leader said that earlier this year, President Benigno Aquino III condoned chunk of the P6-billion debt of the Pagbilao Power Station, which is operated by the Japanese-controlled Team Energy Corporation. “It is very easy for the Aquino administration to get more than P340 billion without taxing professionals and the unemployed if it will only remove tax incentives for big companies and go after big tax evaders," Ustarez said. — LBG, GMA News