Public should brace for more taxes, warns solon

10/12/2008

The people should brace for a round of increased or new taxes after the P1.415 trillion national budget for next year hurdled the second reading at the House of Representatives without any reduction, Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson said.

The Arroyo administration will be obligated impose new tax measures just to meet its budgetary requirements, Joson said after President Arroyo’s allies in the House rejected moves by the opposition to slash the proposed budget amid a global financial meltdown.

Joson said the government mainly has two sources for its funds: taxes and foreign borrowings.

As a result of the financial crisis in the United States which, like a virus, has crept to other countries globally, Joson said the country will likely have a hard time raising funds from commercial loans abroad.

“So, we have no choice but to fund government expenditures through the imposition of new tax measures,” Joson said. “We cannot avoid these new taxes otherwise we would be incurring a huge budgetary deficit,” he said.

Joson said local tax collection has never reached the P1 trillion mark, with the tax take ranging only from P700 to P800 billion each year.

To cover up for the deficit, Joson said the government would be forced to impose new taxes which would further drag the country into the quagmire of economic difficulties.

“Instead of helping alleviate the plight of the people already saddled with economic difficulties, they would be further squeezed dry by the government,” Joson said.

“Among the new taxes Malacaòang is planning to impose are the sin taxes and tax on text,” Joson said. “But the revenues to generated by those two measures still fall short of the projected P300 billion to P400 billion budgetary deficit.”

The House leadership said next year’s budget was designed as an antidote to economic stagnation.

After a grueling two-week marathon plenary session, the House approved early Saturday morning on second reading via voice vote the proposed 2009 P1.415-trillion General Appropriations Act contained in House Bill 5116.

“We have just passed a very flexible, reform-oriented budget, and a recession-responsive policy action that our people can depend on, an antidote to economic stagnation,” Speaker Propsero Nograles said, noting that the House remained faithful to the constitutional mandate of giving education the highest focus among the nation’s priorities.

The Speaker lauded the diligence, efficiency and hard work of House Appropriations Chairman Junie Cua, senior Vice Chairman Edcel Lagman and other vice chairmen and staff of the Committee on appropriations, but “there is much more work for you and all of us to do.”

The same is true with Majority Leader Arthur Defensor and senior deputy Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales and other deputies – Reps. Del de Guzman, and Crispin Remulla, among others - for their collaborative brilliance in steering plenary deliberations until the votes were counted.

Nograles also praised the Deputy Speakers - Amelita Villarosa, Eric Singson, Pablo Garcia, Raul del Mar and Arnulfo Fuentebella - for their vital leadership role in presiding over the marathon plenary sessions, and the members of the majority coalition and cited the critical collaboration of the minority led by Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora throughout the budget process.

“My gratitude also to the members of media who patiently covered the proceedings and served as our most effective bridge to our people, and to Secretary General, Marilyn Barua-Yap and the entire House Secretariat and the security and police contingents for a job well done,” he added.

Nograles said the proposed outlay supports the government’s priority programs and projects for the year 2009 and designed to meet any and all contingencies that may arise as a result of the current global economic slowdown spawned by the U.S. financial crisis.

“Despite the U.S. government’s $700-billion bailout package, we cannot be complacent but should anticipate any possible ill-effects the crisis may have on the Philippine economy,” Nograles.

“Infrastructure development programs would help pump prime the economy while promoting the absorptive capacities of implementing agencies. We also have to heighten tax collections by improving tax administration,” he added.

House Appropriations Chairman Junie Cua of Quirino said this is “a document that embodies the aspirations of the nation.”

“This budget is a product not only of the members of the House of Representatives but of the public itself, as we vigorously pursue a participative approach allowing for inputs, evaluations, and recommendations from the civil society so that it can becomes a people’s budget in every sense of the word,” Chairman Cua said.

Cua added that the proposed 2009 outlay is only P188.3-billion or 15.4% higher than the budget for the current year of P1.226-trillion. He also noted that of the P1.415-trillion package, P867.969-billion represents new appropriations and the remainder covers automatically appropriated items such as debt servicing, the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), and retirement premiums of government personnel.

Former chairman and now senior vice chairman of the appropriations panel, Rep. Edcel Lagman said “this bill is not a mere compendium of budgetary allocations but, more importantly, a document of policy directions.”

Lagman said no country is insulated from the ill-effects of the international economic crisis and financial turmoil.

“Our role is limited to mitigating the adverse effects of the crisis to shield our people, particularly the marginalized and disadvantaged. We can only offer buffers and safety nets. Perforce, we must play and deliver this role to the hilt,” Lagman said during his earlier sponsorship speech. Charlie V. Manalo

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