TRABAHO Bill Expected to Create 1.4 Million Jobs Until 2029

The Department of Finance (DOF) has announced last Wednesday (October 18) that the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (TRABAHO) Bill is set to create over one million jobs for locals and returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), with its implementation from 2021 to 2029 when it is passed into a law.

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The TRABAHO bill aims to cut down the corporate income tax (CIT) enclosed in the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP), which will allot more capital to companies that would generate more jobs for Filipinos, according to the Department of Finance.

New Bill Seeks to Create Millions of Jobs for Filipinos

As per Finance Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino, the DOF projects an estimated 113, 944 jobs created by 2021, during the first year of implementation of the proposed law. This number is expected to grow until an average of 1.4 million jobs is created by 2029.

Under the tax reform’s provisions, businesses will become eager to hire more people as this will earn them useful tax incentives.

The pro-investment tax reform package will appeal to a number of businesses, as this will entitle them to additional incentives on labour, domestic input, as well as training enclosed in the proposed coverage of tax incentives. Meanwhile, activities that already benefit society such as those that help develop the rural areas, create jobs, and promote the country’s exports, will continue to enjoy tax incentives, according to Lambino.

Under the proposed tax reform law, the CIT rate will be down by 2% points every two years from 2021 until 2029. By then end of its implementation coverage, the CIT rate would have gone down by a total of 20 percent.

“With lower tax rates, such a proposal is hardly inflationary while creating over a million jobs over the medium term as firms expand with more money at their disposal,” said Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua.