The Minimum wage earner exemption from income tax serves as a

means to uphold social justice when it comes to tax treatment of the

income of taxpayers earning a minimum wage. One of the principles of
taxation is to impose a uniform and equal tax system, considering the
surrounding circumstances or factors affecting the taxpayers’ ability to
pay. A minimum wage earners, as the name suggests, earns the least
amount of income in the hierarchy of income earners. Upon its deletion
from the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, the proposed revisions
will bring about statutory wage earners, which shall refer to a worker in
the private sector paid the statutory minimum wage, or to an employee in
the public sector with compensation income of not more than the
statutory minimum wage in the non-agricultural sector where he/she is
assigned. Employees who are receiving a monthly income of P21,000 will
now be exempted from paying personal income tax allowing over P20,000
in savings annually. This will increase the take-home pay of most
individuals, putting more money in people's pockets, which they can use
to save for the future or spend on their families' needs, such as for
tuition or school expenses of their children. As the 1987 Constitution
declares that the “rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable” and
mandates Congress to evolve a “progressive system of taxation” as stated
in Section 28(1). One of the aims of the taxation principle of theoretical
justice is to alleviate poverty. With the poor, every little bit counts, and
by lifting their burden of paying income tax, we give them opportunities
to put their money to daily essentials as well as savings. Minimum wage
earners can no longer afford to be taxed and to be placed in the
cumbersome income tax process in the same manner as higher-earning
employees. It is our obligation to ease their burdens in any way we can.
(Jaime Soriano Et. Al vs. Secretary of Finance, G.R. No. 184450 January
24, 2017).