No end to taxes

With the proposed 2009 budget of P1.415 trillion set for review in Congress, people are wondering where or how on earth government will source out the funds for such a staggering amount. The bulk of the proposed budget, which is 15 percent higher than the 2008 budget of P1.227 trillion, will reportedly go to education, healthcare and social work and development (which will be receiving a 117-percent increase from P4.8 billion to P10.5 billion).

The BIR will most likely go after big corporations to meet up government’s budgetary requirements, and among those “targeted” will be the liquor and cigarette industries. More likely than not, these companies will be asked to pay up more, and in some instances way ahead of schedule. It will be like squeezing blood out of stone since a number of these companies have been experiencing a drop in their sales, particularly those engaged in the cigarette industry who have been complaining that the advertising ban imposed on them has been quite a blow.

Filipinos are already reeling from all kinds of taxes imposed by government from the “sedula” or the community tax certificate to property tax, vehicle tax, environmental tax, insurance tax – all sorts of taxes from local to national – particularly the 12-percent value added tax which many have come to resent. To many Filipinos, the mind boggling amount of P1.415 trillion means there will be no end to taxes since the proposed budget will obviously be sourced out from taxes paid by ordinary, salaried Filipinos.

People’s resentment is also being fueled even more by the Budget Department’s proposal to overhaul the Salary Standardization Law to increase the pay of government employees by as much as 100 percent. Let’s face it, people have become so cynical and jaded that they are beginning to look at all government employees as inefficient and tainted with corruption, many of whom are perceived to be unmarketable, if not unqualified, for private corporations.

Even the description of GMA by Palace officials as “overworked but underpaid” has been met with derision, with critics and even ordinary folks arguing that if it’s such a thankless and unrewarding job, why are people ready to spend billions to get elected as president? With the monthly pay of the president reportedly within the P60,000 range, there are proposals (though it’s hard to tell how serious these are) – to raise the chief executive’s pay to P1 billion a year with the provision that he or she will not be allowed to dip into government coffers. And if the president so much as takes P5, he or she will be sent straight to jail.

Remember Felipe Natanio, more popularly known as Mang Pandoy? The poor man died of tuberculosis the other day, still destitute with his family not even knowing how they can give the old man a decent burial. Mang Pandoy came into national prominence more than a decade ago when he was used as a prop by FVR during one of his State of the Nation Addresses, showcasing him as a typical poor Filipino whose life will soon be improved. Mang Pandoy struck a painful chord among many Filipinos when he said that he was willing to become target practice and give up his life for rich adventure-seekers if he will be paid P100,000 to help his family have a better life. After a short-lived television program, nothing much has been heard of Mang Pandoy – that is, until news of his death – a man proverbially as poor as a rat.

It is this same kind of poverty that has driven many Filipinos to leave the country to become overseas Filipino workers. But while there is no doubt that our economy is being continually kept afloat by the dollar remittances of hardworking OFWs, it’s also a reality that a big chunk of these dollars go to the underground economy, with “informal entrepreneurs” able to go around government’s taxation requirements.

While the purposes outlined for the proposed budget may seem laudable – education will get a boost in terms of more infrastructure, the poor will be given more “public health care packages” and “financial assistance programs” (which critics dismiss as nothing but mere dole-outs) – one must consider the continually growing number of people who will be requiring more and more of these basic services.

According to surveys, as much as 80 percent of Filipinos want other family planning options other than the natural method espoused by the Church since it’s becoming more and more difficult to feed the growing number of children in their households. It’s rather unfortunate that the proposed reproductive health bill is being shot down due to some people’s biases and narrow mindedness.

Many believe that the unceasing growth in this country’s population has been a primary reason for our slow economic progress. If one really thinks about it, the situation is beginning to look more like a “Catch 22” – with government needing a huge amount to pump prime the economy and therefore uplift the lives of Filipinos, yet it will have to squeeze the proposed trillion-peso budget by imposing more taxes on these same Filipinos.