10. CONCURRENCE BY A MAJORITY OF ALL THE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FOR THE PASSAGE OF A LAW GRANTING TAX EXEMPTION

Revenue bills shall originate exclusively from the House of Representatives

All appropriation, revenue or tariff bills, bills authorizing an increase of the public debt, bills of local application, and private bills shall originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments. [Section 24, Article VI, Constitution]

The Constitution simply means that the initiative for the filing of bills must come from the House of Representatives, on the theory that, elected as they are from the districts, the members of the House can be expected to be more sensitive to the local needs and problems. It is not the law – but the revenue bill – which is required by the Constitution to originate exclusively in the House of Representatives, because a bill originating in the House may undergo such extensive changes in the Senate that the result may be a rewriting of the whole, and a distinct bill may be produced. [Tolentino v. Secretary of Finance]

The Constitution does not also prohibit the filing in the Senate of a substitute bill in anticipation of its receipt of the bill from the House, as long as action by the Senate is withheld until receipt of said bill. [Tolentino v. Secretary of Finance]