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An alliance of organizations composed of OFWs and their families is
expressing concern over alleged government plans to collect a
documentary stamp tax on remittances through remittance companies as
another scheme to bleed OFWs dry.
According to Migrante-Middle East, a Western
Union source in Dubai told them that the Arroyo government will soon
collect a .15 percent documentary stamp tax (DST) on OFW remittances
sent through remittance companies.
Already, the Arroyo government collects a .15
percent DST from OFW families on remittances sent through local
banks.
“It’s as if the knife the Arroyo government
stabbed into our back just got deeper. Given that OFW families
already reel from the lower dollar exchange rate as they try to
grapple with rising food prices—it’s utterly unjust and immoral
for them to add this new ‘state exaction’, said Migrante-Middle
East.
“The intensifying economic crisis gripping the
Filipino people merits the immediate scrapping of all service
charges and fees against OFW remittances. The first to go should be
this documentary stamp tax,” says Connie Bragas-Regalado, Migrante
International chairperson.
For every $200 (or P8,320 at a P41.60 exchange)
remittance, the OFW family will be charged P12.48 in DST.
Considering OFW remittances average $1 billion
monthly, that means $1.5 million (or P62 million) monthly in DST
revenue.
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