EDITORIAL — Tax awareness campaign

Wanting to tout economic gains under his watch, President Marcos has ordered agencies to make economic terms “easily digestible and in a language that makes sense to Juan de la Cruz.” He issued the order last Friday during the board meeting at Malacañang of the National Economic and Development Authority, during which the NEDA reported that the economy remained in good shape despite missing its targets for 2024.

Alongside trying to make gross domestic product and headline inflation comprehensible to ordinary citizens, the administration can tack on a taxpayer information campaign, which may promote efficiency and honesty in government. Too many Filipinos think they are not taxpayers if they don’t pay income or corporate taxes, and therefore have no financial stake in good governance.

Filipinos even at the lowest income levels must be made fully aware of their automatic contributions to the national coffers. They must understand that each time they switch on the light at their home or consume water from the taps, they pay value-added tax to the government. A hefty 12 percent of the price of gasoline for tricycles and jeepneys is collected as excise tax by the government. There’s VAT on road toll.

“Sin taxes” are slapped on the cheapest gin and cigarette brand consumed by the poor, with the taxes supposed to go to public health care. There are consumption taxes on food, medicine, bottled water, baby formula – you name it, the government takes a share from it.

Underprivileged Filipinos, who are not spared from taxation, must understand that they personally contribute to the funds that are given to them as ayuda or aid, and therefore politicians have no right to claim personal credit for giving some of the taxes back to the needy.

With a clear understanding of taxation, ordinary Filipinos will see that government officials are on the public payroll and have a responsibility to use people’s money efficiently and honestly. Ordinary Filipinos will feel outrage when they see their taxes being used for personal or partisan purposes by a privileged few who draw their salaries from the people.

It’s the season for paying various forms of taxes and fees and filing income tax returns. This is a good time to conduct a tax awareness campaign, not only to encourage payment of the proper taxes, but also to make the taxation system comprehensible to the masses, using terms that are “easily digestible and in a language that makes sense” to Juan and Juana de la Cruz.

Anyone who has ever consumed anything in this country has the right to ask public officials: where do our taxes go?