A Harmful Regulation: Scrap the BIR RR No. 5-2021
Democracy Watch stands against the provision of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) Revenue Regulation (RR) 5-2021 that will increase the tax on private education institutions. If implemented, these schools will be taxed at 25% instead of the regular 10% rate. This is a glaring 150% increase in what they used to pay. It is an unnecessary burden on the private education sector as a whole and will undoubtedly impact students of these academic institutions.
The BIR RR No. 5-2021 serves as a peril to society rather than a gain for the common good. The pandemic has threatened a vast number of private schools’ survival and increasing the tax rate could very well lead to their permanent closure. Beyond job loss for employees, school closure equates to student displacement, and business disruption in its local economic sphere.
The quality of education will be compromised as schools may have to cut down on staff, facilities, research, or equipment. This does not bode well both for the present situation of students and their future. Our students are the leaders of tomorrow, and it is crucial to invest in teaching them to think critically and act rightly as early as now. This is their time to gain the skills they will need when they join the workforce. They have already struggled enough trying to learn virtually in the past year. They do not need the dire repercussions that the RR 5-2021 will create.
In a pandemic, it is all the more integral for the government to respond to the people’s needs. The government should instead work to assist the private education sector to survive this deep recession and design strategies that will make our educational system’s standards globally competitive.
Democracy Watch is one with the private educational institution in demanding for the reversal of the harmful provisions of RR 5-2021. The government needs revenue, but it should not be at the expense of the stressed education ecosystem.