Unless the people see changes in the attitude and the way the political elite and the rich people conduct their affairs, it would be hard to convince the middle class and the poorer sectors of society of the need to raise new taxes, thus said the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).
The statement was issued in response to warnings issued by prominent economists that the country’s economy may crash in two years unless the Government undertakes measures to immediately address the widening public deficit and debt problems.
“TUCP realizes that our country’s predicament is about collection and allocation. It’s also about taxes, it’s about uncollected taxes, and it’s about over-spending, and over-spending on the wrong things,” TUCP surmised.
“While workers acknowledge to some degree that there is a need to sacrifice more by paying more taxes, it is doubly difficult for them to agree because there is no apparent effort on the part prominent sectors of society to also make sacrifices”, TUCP said.
“Probably, it’s all got to do with attitude”, said the TUCP.
“This problem has been staring us in the face for the last couple of years and yet no public official has declared willingness to give up the perks associated with his or her office in order save on much need cash. This is the same for elected and appointed politicians”, said the TUCP.
“It will be hard for the people to shell out their hard-earned money to pay additional taxes if they continue to see the profligacy among the political elite and the rich”, TUCP said.
“Why should I pay more, when I see my hard earned money go to waste? The BIR and other revenue collecting agencies can’t even collect efficiently from the rich. Why should I shell out more?” this is the common response heard from the middle class and the poor.
The TUCP suggested that the country’s political leaders and the business community pave the way for a national effort to bring about cost cutting and revenue raising consciousness.
“We strongly suggest that legislators give up in whole or in part their pork barrel allocations, even only for the meantime”
“We also call on public officials to cut down on their representation allowances”
“We call on business people to pay the right taxes”
“For the Government to enforce collection on big time tax cheats”
“Fire corrupt tax collectors, particularly those who bungle tax collections cases”
Only after then that the public may agree to take on more sacrifices and probably stave-off a potential economic crises, ended the TUCP statement.
A recent TUCP disclosed that 80% of the revenues raised by Government are sourced from the workers and the poorer sectors of society either through direct or indirect taxes.
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