Medicines are next

March 30, 2026

FEATURES

At face value it may sound like a gentle reminder that prevention is better than cure, but it screams a harder truth: Filipinos cannot afford to be sick.

Oil shocks risk further erosion of Filipinos’ purchasing power

March 10, 2026

Many Filipinos’ meager incomes will not keep pace with the rising cost of living driven by higher fuel prices.

Dropping corporate taxes, rising individual and consumption taxes

March 7, 2026

The country’s tax burden is shifting from corporations to households. Poor and middle-class women and their families are hit harder as they pay VAT and excise taxes on basic household expenses like fuel, electricity, food and transport. That’s because consumption taxes like VAT and excise taxes are regressive, taking a bigger share of their already […]

The poor’s calvary

April 16, 2025

World Bank wants to tax Filipinos, but not the rich

April 8, 2025

Tax reforms should align with broader developmental goals like reducing inequality, strengthening public services, and promoting inclusive growth rather than narrowly focusing on revenue maximization. The government should object to World Bank conditionalities as a matter of principle.

Despite rollbacks, TRAIN makes fuel more expensive–IBON

December 4, 2018

Research group IBON said that even with recent oil price rollbacks, the Duterte administration’s Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law (TRAIN) increases fuel prices with an inflationary effect burdening the poor more than the rich. IBON pointed out that rollbacks have always been proven to be temporary and stressed that TRAIN’s taxes make fuel […]

TRAIN-driven rising cost of living makes wage hike urgent

July 9, 2018

Research group IBON said that tax-driven inflation is making the meager wages of poor Filipinos fall even further behind the rising cost of living. The group said this makes it even more urgent for the government to immediately raise wages even as it revisits the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law behind the […]

Hindi Totoong Maka-mahirap Ang TRAIN Ni Duterte

October 11, 2017

  Ano ang TRAIN? Itinuturing na ‘urgent’ ng gubyernong Duterte ang Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion o TRAIN. Layunin ng TRAIN na makalikom ng P1.3 trillion para tustusan ang Build! Build! Build! o ang engrandeng programa sa imprastruktura ng pamahalaan. Itutulak daw nito ang pambansang pag-unlad at ang kapakanan ng mahihirap. Sa ilalim ng […]

Real wage falling, higher taxes imminent (with TRAIN Infographic #4)

September 19, 2017

Though welcome, the recent wage hike in the National Capital Region (NCR) does not increase the minimum wage earners’ purchasing power. The real value of the minimum wage is even falling while the people face higher taxes under government’s proposed tax reforms, said the group. The NCR Regional Wage Board recently announced a Php21 wage hike, […]