The former secretary of the Department of Finance during Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency, Gary Teves, gave me a call on August 10 while I was at the office in Makati. He wanted to hear my thoughts and suggestions on how to ease the payment of taxes. He is writing a report on tax reforms and he wants to know what some businessmen think.
Gary is a dear friend from way back, maybe 28 years. We first met at a business conference at the Manila Peninsula when he was still a congressman.
While on the phone, I couldn’t help but get carried away and my so-called thoughts and suggestions turned more into a venting machine.
Here are some of my thoughts:
1. The pandemic caught all of us by surprise and we do not fault the government for this. But, we are aghast at the handling and implementation of programs to ease the financial burdens of the citizens.
Ayuda —- Yes, our poor brothers and sisters needed financial help in cash and in-kind for their sustenance during the lockdowns. How were the container-loads of cash distributed? Did every rightful beneficiary receive the ayuda with the exact amount?
Billions were supposedly needed to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, but the disbursements of billions of pesos to only a few greatly contributed to us being cash-strapped. Over pricing, over patong, over kupit were these in play during the pandemic?
While I fully understand that BBM’s administration needs trillions in budget, instead of just increasing the taxes as the only and easy way to raise money these technocrats could only think of, why don’t they tighten their belts and spend the people’s money properly? Wasteful spending, unnecessary expenses, indiscriminate disbursements, SOP, backflow, for the boys, cause taxpayers billions a year. Yung pera kung saan-saan napupunta, hindi para sa mamamayan kundi sa mga mayayaman doing business withnthe government, Hindi para bumuti ang kalagayan ng mga milyun-milyung Pilipino. Ang tingin ko ang pera ay napupunta lang sa iilang tao.
Long story short— please don’t increase taxes and punish businessmen. Kala nyo nagtatai kami ng pera. Many are just hanging-on, holding-on. Marami negosyo nga hindi pa nakapagbukas, nagsara na. Maraming sadlak sa utang.
Ayusin ang budget, pagbudget, paggastos, at walang silid sa bulsa. Yung mga for the boys and backflow, kasama na yan sa culture natin, okay lang naman para sa akin pero hwag naman masyadong malaki. For example, P10,000 cost pero ipapasa sa gobyerno P135,000. Eto talaga kapal moks. Pero kung P10,000 ang cost, tapos P1,000 ang for the boys, okay lang yan. But or course, hindi makukontento. Human wants are insatiable.
Sec. Gary Teves’s inquiry was about the payment of taxes, and how to further ease the process, and instead, I dwelled on the inefficient and indiscriminate handling and spending of government funds and vehemently objected on any possible implementation of new taxes or raising of taxes to burden us.
So help me God. 🙏
