There are fewer than 10 politicians on the list of the top 500 individual income taxpayers, so maybe politics isn’t the amazingly lucrative family business that we lesser mortals think it is.
Former first lady Imelda Marcos, who once famously promised to end poverty in this country by distributing her wealth, is not on the list, although this is not surprising. Once not too long ago, she was declared the poorest member of the House of Representatives, based on her official declaration of assets and liabilities. No one challenged the accuracy of the declaration.
As many quarters have already pointed out, also missing from the list of top individual income taxpayers are several of the Filipinos with wealth so vast they are unimaginable even in our dreams.
There are so few of these individuals so their absence from the list is conspicuous. Some of them point out that their individual income taxes are automatically withheld by their corporations, and these types of taxpayers are not included in the list of the top 500. But ordinary folks are suspicious, and think these individuals should share their accountants with the entertainment celebrities at the top of the list.
Considering the work environment she inherited, Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares has been doing a laudable job, but her agency continues to receive flak.
In line with the policy of transparency espoused by the daang matuwid administration, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) released the list of the top individual and corporate taxpayers on its website.
Some quarters also suspect an unspoken or inadvertent shame campaign in the release of the list, especially after President Aquino’s memorable speech recently, in well-rehearsed Hokkien, calling on members of the Tsinoy business federation to pay their taxes properly.
Henares reportedly provided P-Noy with a list of every member of the federation and their tax payments.
The most hilarious reaction to the speech was that the federation, which is involved in charity work, is tax-exempt and so are its members. Going over the tax list released by the BIR, however, it looks like the reaction is accurate and the joke is on the heckling hoi polloi.
Ordinary folks who go over that list can’t help wondering what the BIR is doing when it comes to collecting taxes from the country’s wealthiest. This is a common reaction especially after the BIR announced that it was setting its sights on the self-employed, professionals and small businesses.
A typical reaction is that the BIR should first go after notorious jueteng lords and smugglers, who seem to be as untouchable as politicians. Or maybe the gambling lords and smugglers are untouchable because they are politicians.
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While the BIR is promoting transparency and proper tax payments, certain groups should also promote a tax awareness campaign of sorts, making Filipinos more demanding about the way taxes are spent.
Through the value-added tax, every Filipino is already a taxpayer. We pay VAT on electricity, water, telecommunications, medicine and health care services, many types of food, fuel and transport fares.
This gives every Filipino a financial stake in governance. Everyone has a right to be indignant when a public servant, whether it’s the president or the neighborhood barangay tanod, misuses tax money.
Among ordinary folks, such awareness as a taxpayer is still abysmal. When P-Noy says the people are his boss, it’s seen more as rhetoric rather than an acknowledgment that he, like all public servants, is on the payroll of Juan and Juana de la Cruz.
We are still not asking often enough where our taxes go, and who are getting the lion’s share of perks courtesy of taxpayers.
We pay a road user’s tax, for example, but must still pay VAT on road toll. Despite those taxes, our government can’t afford to build vital roads even within traffic-choked Metro Manila. Instead road projects are awarded to the private sector, which naturally means the public will have to pay a toll for using the roads. These build-operate-transfer deals never seem to reach the transfer stage. My great-great-great grandchildren will still be paying a toll on all these roads.
I know families who are returning to the heart of Metro Manila from residences in surrounding areas to save on daily road toll and gasoline expenses. It’s a reversal of decongestion efforts in the nation’s capital.
Where do the road user’s tax and the rest of our taxes go? If we abolished the Senate and the party-list system, we can save enough to build all the connecting roads and flyovers that we need without requiring taxpayers to pay for road use.
This, of course, is wishful thinking. Tax payment time, however, typically encourages such thinking, especially from those whose tax payments are automatically withheld or who belong to a captive task base.
These days there’s a lot of official talk about inclusive economic growth. The inclusiveness can start with taxation.
In several countries, unfair taxation has triggered bloody revolutions. In our country, when people are unhappy over the state of the nation, they find work overseas. Then their remittances are taxed.
Truly, there’s no escaping death and taxes… except for the immensely rich.