The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Leyte 1st District Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez is championing a bill that seeks to grant senior citizens and persons with disability (PWDs) the full 20% discount and 12% value-added tax (VAT) exemption even when availing of existing promotional offers from business establishments.
In a statement on Friday, Romualdez said House Bill No. 16, or the “Act Enhancing the Discount on the Purchase of Goods and Services of Senior Citizens and Persons with Disabilities,” aims to reinforce the preferential treatment already provided by law to these sectors.
The 20% discount and VAT exemption are enshrined in Section 4 of Republic Act (RA) 7432, or the Senior Citizens Act, and Section 32 of RA 7277, or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, both as amended.
Under HB 16, “the discount granted to senior citizens and persons with disabilities… shall be in addition to any prevailing promotional offers or discounts extended by business establishments, if any, have been provided, but in no way that it will require presentation of booklets in the procurement of goods.”
The bill also clarifies that general promotions or sales should not be considered a substitute for the mandatory discounts guaranteed under existing laws.
“In no case shall a promotion or discount offered by a business establishment to the general public be considered in compliance with Section 4 of RA No. 7432, as amended, and Section 32 of RA No. 7277, as amended,” it states.
Romualdez explained that the measure is meant to end recurring disputes between businesses and senior citizens or PWDs over how discounts are applied.
To ensure fairness, the bill also allows businesses to treat the input tax from VAT-exempt sales and mandatory discounts as deductible expenses, in accordance with Section 34 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
“This is in line with the State policy of promoting a just and dynamic social order that shall ensure the nation’s prosperity and free its people from poverty,” he said.
House Bill No. 16 is co-authored by Tingog Party-list Representatives Andrew Julian Romualdez and Jude Acidre.