Say no to any proposed tax amnesties!

No doubt about the seriousness of our fiscal crisis, but in the government’s earnest desire to get more funds to restore our financial health, they are toying once again with the idea of having another tax amnesty program. Again, I’d like to strongly emphasize that calling for another tax amnesty is a step in the wrong direction. The reason why there are many people out there who don’t want to pay taxes is they’re simply waiting for the government to announce another tax amnesty... and this is just the break that they’re looking for. If there’s anyone who doesn’t deserve a break, it’s those tax evaders!

If you ask me, a tax amnesty is totally unfair to those who regularly pay their taxes since only the tax evaders would benefit from this program. We don’t have to tell you what government ought to do and that is to reward the honest taxpayer and jail the tax evader. But as it is, we still have to see tax evaders thrown into jail. What about smugglers? They’re no different from tax evaders, yet they’re VIPs as far as corrupt Customs officials are concerned.

Meanwhile, we already said that before we should even think of getting new money into the coffers of the government, we should first plug all the leaks so that any new money can no longer be sequestered into the personal bank accounts of the corrupt and the damned. As we’ve learned from the 2003 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the Philippines ranks as the 35th most corrupt in a survey of 133 countries. It is believed that the Philippine government has lost as much as $48 billion (P2.68 trillion at the current peso-dollar exchange rate) to corruption in the last two decades. So now, do I hear suggestions about how to plug these leaks?

Well, true to form, my good friend Sen. Manuel "Mar" Roxas has just introduced a bold new anti-corruption measure seeking to allow the Office of the Ombudsman to inspect the bank deposits of all public officials. In his Senate Bill 1760, a public official shall be required, within 30 days from assumption of office, to execute a document expressly authorizing the Ombudsman to scrutinize his or her bank deposits, including those in the name of his or her spouse and children under 18 years old. This authorization would cover all bank deposits or their substitutes, whether or not they are listed in the official’s statement of assets and liabilities.

The proponent of this bill, Sen. Roxas, said, "We are totally convinced this measure, once enacted, will enable the Ombudsman to expeditiously search out tainted assets hoarded by rotten officials." I’m sure that many corrupt government officials aren’t impressed by this proposal since the truth may just surface about their true net worth. Well, this is certainly one plan that would indeed plug those leaks and give corrupt government officials a chance to think twice or thrice before putting their dirty fingers into the cookie jar. But the million-peso question is: Will this bill ever be enacted into law?

Meanwhile, back to our fiscal crisis and to the bigger question on what the government ought to do to ease our financial crisis. Rather than go into that pointless tax amnesty program, I have talked with a lot of business friends and a suggestion came up to instead ask the taxpayers to pay their taxes in advance. Surely, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) can come up with some kind of formula to accept next year’s taxes today.

For those who do so, there would be no more investigations and the government gets its needed revenues way ahead of schedule. I’m not saying that this is a great plan, but hey, some 20 years ago, when the City of Cebu also went through a financial crisis, then Mayor Ronald Duterte requested my father’s group, the Metro Cebu Theaters’ Association (MCTA), to give advances of their amusement taxes. The theater owners responded overwhelmingly and gave two months’ advances, which allowed Cebu City to pay the salaries of City Hall employees on time.

Of course, time has changed since and the theater business isn’t as lucrative as it used to be, thanks to pirated VCDs and DVDs. But certainly, any suggestion is worth a try. But then again, we have to caution you that we should do this only after they have plugged the holes in the government coffers. Until now, they haven’t done that yet.

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People here thought that former Sen. John Osmeña is now enjoying a well-earned vacation from politics. After all, he once had the enviable title of being an undefeated politician for the past three decades in Philippine politics... until of course, he lost his re-election bid for senator in the last May elections. Well, it really didn’t come as a complete surprise, but yes, former Sen. John Osmeña made the headlines of local newspapers accusing Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and her father, former Cebu governor Pablo Garcia, of plunder. Plunder? If Sonny O is to be believed, the Garcias allegedly diverted P1 billion from the Capitol treasury to fund their political campaign chest.

As the report goes, the former senator said the Garcias gave money as "doleouts" to selected barangay or municipal leaders and public school teachers. In response to that accusation, Gov. Gwen Garcia says that Sonny O was referring to the "honoraria" given to barangay captains, municipal mayors and public school teachers for their anti-drug campaign or anti-drug education program.

Pardon me for asking, but what I find quite strange in Sonny’s accusations is that it is not coming from the opposition in the provincial board. I would have thought that the opposition in the PB would have discovered this alleged irregularity first? Stranger still is that this issue was never blown up as an election issue... so why is it only now that this has surfaced? Finally, I’d like to point out that our understanding of plunder is when a public official steals government funds and puts them into his or her personal account. Sonny O’s accusations against the Garcias clearly do not fit the definition of plunder.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m. only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.