Burden of vanity tax for working women
What I am always reminded of every time I go to a department store is that aside from the customer relations is the appearance of the sales personnel. Especially for ladies, they have make-up, and marked grooming for males.
Understandable for the nature of their job, they have to be presentable before their customers. In other words, it is their work that requires them to do so. It is company-imposed. And so it is a major part of their job that one can’t proceed facing the customers without it. And having this on a daily basis requires shedding out extra amount from one’s budget. It is therefore costly in the long run considering their minimum wage, or even below it.
Minimum wage workers today who work in Shoemart or Robinsons or go elsewhere do buy cosmetics. They are not as expensive, but they do wear it because it is a requirement.
This would be a burden if the bill of Ako-Bicol party-list Representative Rodel Batocabe would push through as the bill offers the "vanity tax" in place of excise taxes on fuel, which is being pushed by President Duterte's economic team to offset a planned reduction in income taxes. Representative Batocabe’s bill seeks to impose a 30-percent tax on the wholesale price or import value of beauty products, including perfumes and toiletries.
In his bill, "Any increase of price for beauty and cosmetic products and services shall only be shouldered by those who choose to and can afford it," and "...Raising the 20 percent excise tax on perfume and toilet waters to 30 percent would be preferable than any rise on our fuel prices." “In comparison, any increase of price for beauty and cosmetic products and services shall only be shouldered by those who choose to and can afford it.”
Unfortunately, we just have some sectors whose meager income that the proposed bill would pose additional burden to their condition.
Another group of people who shall also be affected by this are TV personalities, models, and broadcast reporters whose job demands them to look good. And so the idea of exempting them from the proposed additional tax and would only be imposed on those who do not need these products for the trade.
The government has long been imposing excise taxes that are usually imposed on expensive cars, jewellery, tobacco, alcohol and other expensive items. I think beauty products and services are far too small a segment to be looking at. And I don’t think it’s a luxury item at this time because it has become a necessity.
Taxes are fair and equitable when they are primarily borne by those who make more money. They exist to redistribute wealth. The Asian Development Bank report in 2013 on gender equality in the labor market in the Philippines states: "There is a strong gendered division of domestic labor. Women are not only more likely to be in vulnerable employment, but they are also more likely to be in the category of unpaid contributing family members, which offers the least opportunities for decent work." The gender wage gap is estimated to range from 23 to 30 percent in our country. And since we already have an environment that is becoming accepting for women, we need to institute more favorable mechanisms for them.
And if the bill would push through, it must clearly define the items and services so as not to discriminate and further widen the divide for women who receive meager income, especially those using the items and services out of the demand of their jobs. The bill has to be circumspectly studied in the light of our working women whose surfacing concern is to provide decent living for their families.
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