Burden sharing

It is rather sickening to see and listen to protest rallies by left-leaning groups denouncing the government’s implementation of Republic Act (RA) 9337, or the Reform the Value Added Tax (RVAT) Law, when many of these rallyists don't even pay income taxes. I’m sure.

The sadder fact is we, the real taxpayers, are the ones bearing the full burden and brunt of these taxes, especially because of the automatic deductions of withholding of income taxes from our monthly paychecks.

Except for raw or unprocessed agricultural, meat, poultry, fish, and other aquatic products, VAT is a direct consumption tax that all of us automatically pay in all our purchases of VATable goods and services. This is why, we should demand receipts every time we buy something or pay for services and make sure these receipts are VAT registered with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

What is more condemnable is for some of our lawmakers, who were principally the ones behind the enactment of the increase of RVAT from the previous ten percent to 12 percent, were quick to wash their hands and pass the buck. It is so irritating to see those red streamers denouncing RVAT being paraded in street rallies by Akbayan, Bayan, Sanlakas, and the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) whose leaders are party list representatives in Congress. While they can claim they voted against RVAT but were outnumbered, I think they ought to walk the talk by not getting their "pork-barrel" allocations in the budget which come from VAT and other taxes we pay.

Thus, it is noteworthy to cite Rep.Joey Salceda (Albay, Lakas) who was man enough to defend his decision in support of this administration-endorsed RVAT and other tax measures when these were first proposed in Congress in July, 2004 during the state of the nation address of President Arroyo. I heard Salceda being interviewed on radio and TV in his impassioned explanation of the necessity of implementing RVAT. President Arroyo herself heard the radio interviews with Salceda. When Salceda accompanied the President on her Bicol provincial visits yesterday, she asked him to do a big favor for her administration by joining the RVAT "road show" of the BIR information drive that will take them to Cebu, Davao and other major cities in the country.

I agree with Salceda in saying Filipinos, especially the left-leaning groups, have no reason to accuse foreign or outside dictators of meddling if our economy is not growing as much as everyone wants because not all of us want to share in the burden. RVAT is not a prescription nor an imposition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank (WB) because both international bodies no longer have control over the management of the Philippine economy. This was after we graduated from the IMF and WB programs that compelled the Philippine government in the past to follow their prescriptions.

Many of our existing taxes were imposed during those hard times of IMF and WB regime in our country. In fact, the RVAT was an all-Filipino tax measure crafted by the Arroyo economic team which Salceda is identified with. So if RVAT fails to solve our fiscal deficit problems, we only have our own selves to blame.

If only all Filipinos correctly pay their taxes, Salceda pointed out, there would have been no urgency for them in Congress to approve RVAT into law and raise the rate from ten percent and scrapping the previous VAT exemptions to power and energy products. The trouble is, Salceda says, and which I agree with, much of the country’s underground economy remains out of the tax collection loop. A simple example is the proliferation of neighborhood sari-sari stores which do not even issue receipts. But what convinced me of the sincerity of Salceda’s arguments is his challenge that he himself would author a bill in Congress that would reduce the RVAT rate when there is substantial tax compliance all over the country.

The 44-year old Salceda, after all, was a former A-student of Mrs.Arroyo in the Ateneo School of Economics. But more than that fact, Salceda knows very well the more serious repercussions in the country’s economic well being if RVAT is not passed into law. Imposition of new or higher tax rates as in the case of RVAT is definitely a very unpopular measure for any solon to support, much more to author in Congress.

Salceda is set to assume the chairmanship of the House committee on appropriations anytime this month under the term-sharing agreement with the incumbent chairman of this committee, fellow Bicolano solon, Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr. (Camarines Sur, Lakas). Andaya is reportedly set to be appointed as the new secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to replace incumbent secretary Romulo Neri who wants to return to his old post as secretary of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).

I don’t know what’s holding back President Arroyo from her Cabinet reshuffle. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita keeps saying the President wants to do it in one sweep. My moles at Malacañang Palace were telling me that the name of Rep.Ronaldo Puno (Antipolo, KAMPI) cropped up in the short list of the President for secretary of the Department of Education. This was after Puno’s original bid to return to his former post as secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) fell flat on its face. Earlier, outgoing Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) secretary Michael Defensor had been going around town with his tale that the President wants DILG secretary Angelo T. Reyes to move over to the DENR. But Reyes says Mrs.Arroyo has never discussed with him any such thing.

In December last year, the President talked with Dr. Esperanza Cabral, a medical specialist, as her nominee to become the new DENR Secretary. But certain Palace insiders have apparently blocked her appointment. In the meantime, Defensor has gotten the ire of the senators for his continued leave of absence as DENR Secretary and phasing himself in as the new presidential chief of staff of Mrs.Arroyo at the Palace. The more President Arroyo dilly-dallies with her new Cabinet appointees, the more it would make her nominees susceptible victims to last-minute lobby.

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