WHY TAX PEOPLE HEAVILY WHEN SERVICES COME SLOWLY?

     “Tax pa more, service no more.”

This was how Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. described the tendency of the Aquino administration to burden the people with heavy taxes, while short in providing basic services.

      “The tendency of this government is to collect and collect. It can’t be “tax pa more’ all the time. What is more important is ‘public service pa more’,” he told more than 1,000 students who attended the students forum held at Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in San Fernando, La Union recently.

Earlier, the government had rejected moves in the senate and in the House of Representatives to lower the individual income tax rate to give the taxpayers breathing space.

      Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abegail Valte disclosed that the President ordered the Department of Finance to study the income tax reform bill, the proposed measure that aims to lower the income tax.

But Marcos said the present administration should reconsider its position and agree to the proposed income tax cut. The senator said the people should decide on where to put their money since the government has not been spending the national budget in a timely and adequate manner.

      “I fully support the lowering of income tax. What’s the rationale behind collecting too much tax when the government doesn’t know when and where to spend it?” he asked.

The Commission on Audit has found that of the P2.72-trillion national budget for 2014, at least P763.84 billion was unspent. 

      Marcos said other countries also collect high taxes but then collection are being spent on public services. (Among ASEAN countries, the Philippines  collects the highest taxes, 32 percent.)

       “the people in these countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Laos ,Cambodia and Vietnam are not complaining because the roads and highway are adequate, school building and classrooms are sufficient. There is peace and order, and all the other basic service are being enjoyed,” Marcos said.

       He said the situation is different in the Philippines. The people are paying high taxes, government service hardly reach the taxpayers.(But there is the 4Ps for those who have no work.) /MP