OFWs And Taxes

I had an interesting conversation about OFWs and taxes earlier this week. 

My colleague and I were visiting a government agency for a sales call and became the recipients of a colorful and passionate monologue from their head.

The topic revolved around whether or not the income of OFWs are to be taxed. 

The head posited the question of fairness. Local workers and overseas workers essentially do the same tasks. The only difference is that the former pay taxes and the latter do not. The irony is that remedies, legal or otherwise, to address the issues faced by our OFWs cost money. The money is borne by taxpayers in the Philippines. Simply put, taxpayers are covering the costs - from blood money, travel expenses, bridge financing schemes, and livelihood grants - incurred by workers who are not paying their corresponding dues.

He rebutted the presumption that the exemption is acceptable in the light of the heavy flow of remittances from abroad. In this case, it's not the government which readily benefits but the businesses, schools, travel agencies, and shopping malls which profit from the purchases of the family receiving the remittances. 

On the other hand though, the BIR has its reason for the exemption. There's the issue of possible double taxation since OFWs are presumed to have paid taxes already in their country of work. Though double taxation is not prohibited per se, still, the agency operates under the rule of tax reciprocity which states that:

With the tax reciprocity rule, Filipinos working abroad are taxed for incomes received there and are exempt from paying income taxes in the Philippines, in the same way that foreigners working in the Philippines are taxed here for incomes sourced within the Philippines and are also not required to pay income taxes anymore to their home country.

To be honest, I don't have my own opinion on this one. I don't even want to judge which side is more correct (owing to my relative ignorance of the subject matter).

How about you? Are OFWs to be taxed?