Brave Gordon
By Belinda Olivares-Cunanan, Inquirer News Service
The concern of both the government and the citizens now is how to cushion the impact of the newly implemented expanded value-added tax (EVAT). Sources in the oil industry are hopeful that since the price of diesel increased by only 26 centavos per liter, as compared to some P2.50 per liter of gasoline, this should not affect transportation cost too much. This is because public transportation such as the jeepneys and buses run mostly on diesel, as do the vehicles transporting food items.
The Department of Finance opines that 83 percent of VAT-derived revenues would come from the richer sectors, but this will have to be monitored carefully. So far, government personnel say prices of commodities in the past two days remain stable, except for the prices of VAT-exempt vegetables, which showed a slight increase due to recent transport problems caused by inclement weather.
* * *
Another major concern is whether government would judiciously use the funds to be raised from EVAT. Government professes a commitment to use those funds for infrastructure, health, education and livelihood projects, but that's not enough. It has to constantly monitor such use, for the funds derived from EVAT are truly blood money from the masses. Corruption has to be cut down and eliminated.
Speaking of these funds, my husband and I were at the dinner that Sen. Richard Gordon and his wife Kate threw last week in Intramuros for his very personable fraternity brother, Saeed A. Daof, director general of the Center for the Promotion of Peace and Development in Mindanao. After dinner, Gordon escorted us through the light-and-sound show that he put up while he was tourism secretary. (If you haven't seen this show that encapsulizes Philippine history, make it a point to do so; it's the patriotic shot in the arm we all need at this point.)
Afterwards some of us sat around for coffee and Gordon told us that he is among the senators who favor the scrapping of the EVAT on oil, diesel and LPG, which is expected to raise about P50 billion a year, as this measure will affect the poor directly. In fact, he has filed a bill to this effect. In its place, Gordon proposes a tax on text messages, arguing that slapping P1 on each of the 300 million texts circulating in the country a day would yield P90 billion a year. He feels that beyond a few truly necessary text messages per individual message sender, most others are superfluous and ought to be taxed.
* * *
I recalled to him that around two years, this idea was being tossed around in Congress. In fact, this column proposed that a ceiling on tax-free texts be imposed, beyond which they should be taxed even just 10 centavos per text to raise badly needed revenues. But no one was brave enough to file such bill for fear of alienating the masses in this text capital of the world. Now, with elections just a year and a half away, are our Congress members braver?
Gordon says it depends on how the bill is sold to the electorate. He opined that the people could be convinced to accept a tax on text provided the funds would go to the country's most urgent needs. These are: more classrooms (we need 55,000), hospitals, helicopters for disasters, reforms in the Commission on Elections and the development of bio-ethanol fuel that would spur our sugar industry and make us more self-sufficient in fuels. I wonder how many in Congress can be as brave as Gordon.
The concern of both the government and the citizens now is how to cushion the impact of the newly implemented expanded value-added tax (EVAT). Sources in the oil industry are hopeful that since the price of diesel increased by only 26 centavos per liter, as compared to some P2.50 per liter of gasoline, this should not affect transportation cost too much. This is because public transportation such as the jeepneys and buses run mostly on diesel, as do the vehicles transporting food items.
The Department of Finance opines that 83 percent of VAT-derived revenues would come from the richer sectors, but this will have to be monitored carefully. So far, government personnel say prices of commodities in the past two days remain stable, except for the prices of VAT-exempt vegetables, which showed a slight increase due to recent transport problems caused by inclement weather.
* * *
Another major concern is whether government would judiciously use the funds to be raised from EVAT. Government professes a commitment to use those funds for infrastructure, health, education and livelihood projects, but that's not enough. It has to constantly monitor such use, for the funds derived from EVAT are truly blood money from the masses. Corruption has to be cut down and eliminated.
Speaking of these funds, my husband and I were at the dinner that Sen. Richard Gordon and his wife Kate threw last week in Intramuros for his very personable fraternity brother, Saeed A. Daof, director general of the Center for the Promotion of Peace and Development in Mindanao. After dinner, Gordon escorted us through the light-and-sound show that he put up while he was tourism secretary. (If you haven't seen this show that encapsulizes Philippine history, make it a point to do so; it's the patriotic shot in the arm we all need at this point.)
Afterwards some of us sat around for coffee and Gordon told us that he is among the senators who favor the scrapping of the EVAT on oil, diesel and LPG, which is expected to raise about P50 billion a year, as this measure will affect the poor directly. In fact, he has filed a bill to this effect. In its place, Gordon proposes a tax on text messages, arguing that slapping P1 on each of the 300 million texts circulating in the country a day would yield P90 billion a year. He feels that beyond a few truly necessary text messages per individual message sender, most others are superfluous and ought to be taxed.
* * *
I recalled to him that around two years, this idea was being tossed around in Congress. In fact, this column proposed that a ceiling on tax-free texts be imposed, beyond which they should be taxed even just 10 centavos per text to raise badly needed revenues. But no one was brave enough to file such bill for fear of alienating the masses in this text capital of the world. Now, with elections just a year and a half away, are our Congress members braver?
Gordon says it depends on how the bill is sold to the electorate. He opined that the people could be convinced to accept a tax on text provided the funds would go to the country's most urgent needs. These are: more classrooms (we need 55,000), hospitals, helicopters for disasters, reforms in the Commission on Elections and the development of bio-ethanol fuel that would spur our sugar industry and make us more self-sufficient in fuels. I wonder how many in Congress can be as brave as Gordon.
posted by Anonymous at
2:42 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home