Monday, January 22, 2007

IRS: It's that time of the year again

When I first came here in the US from the Philippines, Filipino teachers have been telling me of our priviledge of a 2-year tax refund from our Income Revenue Service (IRS). This has historical roots.

Between 1901 and 1902, more than 1,000 American teachers, known as "Thomasites" for the S.S. Thomas, which transported the original groups to the Philippines, fanned out across the archipelago to open barangay schools. They taught in English and, although they did not completely succeed in Americanizing their wards, instilled in the Filipinos a deep faith in the general value of education. Almost immediately, enrollments began to mushroom from a total of only 150,000 in 1900-1901 to just under 1 million in elementary schools two decades later. After independence in 1946, the government picked up this emphasis on education and opened schools in even the remotest areas of the archipelago during the 1950s and the 1960s.

Now, after 100 years, the Filipino teachers are the one being imported to the American Educational System as the system turns to the Philippines to fill shortages in critical specialties like special education, early childhood development, mathematics and science.

Here's about the Income Tax Convention with the Republic of the Philippines and the US (verbatim):
Convention Signed at Manila October 1, 1976;
With Exchange of Notes Signed at Washington November 24, 1976;
Transmitted by the President of the United States of America to the Senate January 19, 1977 (S. Ex. C, 95th Cong., 1st Sess.);
Reported Favorably by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations December 4, 1981 (S. Ex. Rept. No 97-39, 97th Cong, 1st Sess);
Advice and Consent to Ratification by the Senate, with Reservations and Understandings, December 16, 1981;
Ratified by the President, Subject to Said Reservations and Understandings, January 20, 1982;
Ratified by the Philippines September 1, 1982;
Proclaimed by the President October 16, 1982;
Entered Into Force October 16, 1982.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like the idea of cyber classrooms. Thanks for the ideas
Trevor

Promethean Planet

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