The Philippine Institute for Development Studies, in partnership with the World Bank (WB) – Philippines will hold a technical discussion on WB’s study of the Distributional Impacts of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) program, on Wednesday, February 26, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm, at the PIDS Conference Hall.
In 2018, the Government of Philippines approved the TRAIN aiming to establish a fairer, simpler, and more efficient tax system while also raising revenue for public investment. The study conducts an ex-ante evaluation of the direct and indirect effects of TRAIN on economic growth and shared prosperity, both its revenue and expenditure measures. Main findings include: (i) personal income inequality is higher than currently measured; (ii) changes in the personal income tax regime benefit almost all income taxpayers; (iii) direct distributional impact of excise taxes is minimal; (iv) long-term economic growth would be higher if additional revenue derived from TRAIN were spent on efficiency-enhancing infrastructure projects; and (v) TRAIN reduces poverty in the short term due to the implementation of a well-targeted UCT program, while higher economic growth reduces poverty in the long term.
This event is by invitation only.
