A Computable General Equilibrium-Top Down Behavioral Microsimulation on Assessing the Philippine Tax Reform

The purpose of the study is to investigate the simulated effects of the Philippine tax reform, which is called Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law, on household income and occupational choice. The study utilized the Family Income Expenditure Survey and tax collection as input to Computable General Equilibrium-Top Down Behavioral Microsimulation approach to determine the effect of Philippine tax reform on household income and occupational choice. The results of the study show that the household income in the Philippines will increase due to the implementation of the Philippine tax reform. Also, the study had found that tax reform results drive the household to shift from being farming entrepreneur to salaried workers since the utility derived from being workers is much higher compared to the utility derived from being entrepreneur. The findings of this research suggest that the Philippine Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law is beneficial to the household since their income would increase, which will further result to an increase in their capability to buy goods and services. However, the tax reform would also lead to imbalance between the distribution of numbers of workers across sectors such as entrepreneurial farming, entrepreneurial non-farming, and wage sector.