Death and Taxes

There was a move recently to reduce the income tax rate here in the Philippines. In a stunning display of congressmen actually doing their jobs, they determined that the income tax rate was just too high, the highest in the region in fact, and have not been adjusted for the rates of inflation up to today.

Then, showing to everyone yet again what a useless institution it is, congress backed off. El Presidente was not keen on the idea you see. He invited the proponents of the bill to Malacanang, a tasteless display of executive meddling if there ever was one, and wouldn't you know it, now they say that there simply "isn't enough time" for the measure. Not enough time? This is laughable coming from a government that insisted on passing the abomination that was the Bangsamoro Basic Law as fast as possible. This coming from a government that greased the tracks with pork barrel money to railroad an impeachment against the Chief Justice in less than a year. But no, there just isn't enough time. Give me a break.

If I may digress, just how inept and inutile is congress anyway? The power of the purse? It gave that up a long time ago with the pork barrel scandal. It abused its power of impeachment to please the idiot-in-chief and now it can't even muster up the will to pass tax measures; a basic legislative function. What's next? Should it just turn over its lawmaking power to El Presidente? It's clear they're not using it anyway with all the absentees and empty chairs. How low can they go? How much more can they sell out to this administration? They should all just bend over and be done with it, that's all they're good at. It's not the "august body" in the days of yore. It's a filthy brothel and as it turns out, congress seems to attract a lot of would-be pimps and prostitutes. Just ask the MMDA Chairman and his playgirls. No honor. No honor among thieves in the first place. If they're not busy kowtowing to El Presidente, they're busy jumping ships, changing parties and re-positioning themselves for political gain. No integrity. They're all tools and puppets on strings.

Anyway, this was supposed to be about taxes.

Taxation Law was my least favorite subject. It's a jumbled mess of laws and internal regulations, rates, rules, exceptions and exceptions to exceptions. One thing though will always stick and that's because it's a concept and concepts are easier to understand. The "lifeblood doctrine" posits that the collection of taxes is of the utmost importance to the government as it needs taxes to survive, which is why collection of taxes is usually favored and cannot be enjoined at all. But something about this view always rubbed me wrong. Oftentimes, the government's actions go beyond treating taxes as a necessity but rather as something it's entitled to, like a tribute from the lowly peasants.

Let's get something straight. Government does not produce any wealth. It doesn't. Everything that comes out of government is supposed to be for a public purpose. There's no profit motive and it's not their money. People tend to be reckless with money that's not theirs and the government is no exception. The Philippines has the highest income tax rate among its neighbors. It has the highest corporate income tax rate. It also has the highest power costs too boot. Given how much the citizen pays, what have we got to show for it? Ask yourself. What goddamned thing do we have to show for it? It rains a little and our capital city becomes a Kevin Costner movie.  If the Philippine government were a private company, all its customers would have left a long time ago.

Don't think of taxes as the lifeblood of the government but rather, the lifeblood of its people. The state is a vampire and its always hungry.

Why does government insist on taxing its people so much? The answer is obvious. When you look at this government, you'll see a large collection of career politicians. For them, government is the center of everything. It is the end all, be all. To them, only the government is capable of improving the lives of people. Just look at the self-righteous and imperious attitude of this particular administration. It doesn't care about anything outside of itself and its own interests. All it cares about is the revenues. Oh, the revenues! Revenues! We gotta keep up the revenues! Revenues! What about our revenues!? As if wealth exists only to end up in government coffers.

Less taxes mean the people get to keep more of their money. That means a little more food on the table. That means meeting the rent payments. That means getting the medicines for little Juanito. That means more goods and services on demand. If anything, it can still be taxed with the VAT. But no, all the government cares about is its revenues. It can't even comprehend the idea of giving Filipinos a bit more power with their own money. We all know how competent the government is at spending tax money, right? Our government has become too self-centered, using itself as its own measure of success as if to say that if the government has money, that means the Filipinos themselves are wealthy. To the powers that be, only they can help the Filipinos, not the Filipinos themselves. But such is the nature of power to desire more of itself.

In a sane society, this would be a hot button issue but as I said before, there only seems to be resignation now with a little hint of despair. There is a malaise, I sense it. The government doesn't care. The people don't care. Nobody cares. People would rather watch Aldub or whatever nonsense fad is polluting the airwaves at noontime.

Can an earthquake just kill us all already?