Rise up vs. blood sucking taxation

INFOWARS
Herman Tiu Laurel
4/4/2008



One priority of the Cory Aquino government after taking power in 1986 was the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program (CTRP) with the Value Added Tax and Excise Tax “reforms”. I remember as clear as daylight the debate I was engaged in on the issue against Big Business appointees to Cory’s government. “Boy Blue” del Rosario was one of the hatchet men pushing the CTRP, another was Bobby de Ocampo. Their argument was that government needed more revenues to cover the budgetary deficit, spend on pro-poor programs, that it would lead to the mythical balanced budget and that it would be the last tax increase ever needed. After two decades, two expansions of the VAT and the flip flops on the Excise Tax, we have found them to be all lies to perpetrate tax plunder on the nation.

Part of the CTRP debate was over the issue of progressive taxation during Marcos’ term, where the rich are made to pay more in income taxes. The contrary position held by the new Cory Aquino finance managers was the Value Added Tax, universally known to be a regressive tax where the poor pay exorbitantly more than the rich by way of taxes on goods and services. Since the Big Business hatchet men were in power with their yellow doll Cory Aquino, their tax plans ruled the day and we see the cumulative effects of two decades of VAT – the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer. It takes a historical perspective to see these but, tragically very few try to collect these cumulative experiences to learn from it.

The Excise Tax debate was on the shift from ad valorem to specific tax. From a percentage tax on value that automatically adjusts to inflation, to a fixed amount tax which does not move with inflation. Lobbying for the excise tax system “reform” was Phillip Morris International (PMI) which wanted reclassification of locally made cigarettes to higher tax brackets and slap them with higher specific taxes reducing their price advantage. Foreign luxury priced cigarettes would rise faster in inflationary times because of higher initial prices. The cheering squad for the Phillip Morris lobby were University of Asia and Pacific economist Vic Abola, and Boy Blue del Rosario and Bobby de Ocampo on the government side.

After Cory Aquino handed power to Ramos using the Comelec to cheat against Danding Cojuangco and Miriam Santiago, Bobby de Ocampo took over the helms of the Department of Finance and the VAT continued to be a priority. The specific tax debate accelerated as FVR tried to demolish domestic tobacco manufacturers in behalf of the foreign tobacco companies. I organized the ATM, Anti-Tax Movement and picketed Congress. There was spontaneous support for the struggle against these new tax “reforms” which I denounced as “deformities”. Someone produced a car sticker which said “No to VAT”, and I still have it on my rear windshield to this day. Though faded after twelve years the message is still strong.

The VAT was expanded to cover more products and service, becoming the Expanded Value Added Tax or EVAT. With egging from the World Bank, the IMF and the Asian Development Bank, the finance department pushed for the EVAT using the same argument that they did in the earlier VAT debates – government needing revenues to cut deficit, for more pro-poor programs, to achieve a balanced budget by so-and-so year, and that it would be the last new taxes. Then Edsa Dos came and installed Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo gushing with promises and better life for Filipinos. The “international community” praised Edsa Dos and included their victim, Estrada, in the pantheon of the favorite “corrupt” icons along with Marcos and others and used it for station breaks of CNN.

Gloria Arroyo and her henchmen started posthaste to expand the EVAT, but to hide the “expansion” they called it the RVAT - increasing the tax from 10% to 12%. To this day, I can not remember what exactly that “R” stands for. The obfuscation suited their purpose of hiding the true intention of the new VAT. Ralph Recto championed the RVAT in the Senate, but the unusual keenness of the public surfaced when it perceiving the fraud Recto was foisting on them. They voted down Recto’s second bid for a senate seat despite his political lineage and huge campaign war. It was a resounding rejection of the RVAT. Vilma couldn’t save him, and we promise to raise the RVAT issue when Vilma runs with Noli in the 2010 elections.

A report made by several economics think tanks including the Freedom from Debt Coalition and the Ibon Foundation, reported that 70% of the RVAT go to international debt payment of the Philippines. Sixty percent of the country’s total national budget goes to debt repayment, and our taxes go to fill the national budget. Last week the World Bank through its chief economist for East Asia and the Pacific Region Vera Songws said: “RP needs to hike tax take, spend more on infrastructure to sustain growth”. Again there’s the obligatory or perfunctory reference to the poor, she said “the Philippines is in the middle of the 10 years of sustained growth needed to help the poor…Sustaining growth and making it more inclusive is now the challenge," World Bank Philippines country director Bert Hoffman added - all pure hypocrisy.

Pulse Asia survey last week reported that 71% or 12.8 million of Filipino families consider themselves poor or very poor. That’s the bitter fruit of twenty-one years of VAT and its expansion going to the payment of the foreign debt (plus domestic debt of Cory Aquino) of which principal has been fully paid five times over the past two decades. They’ve pulled these scams upon the lies of the global financial institutions and their local henchmen in the financial department and the academe. But despite the people knowing the evil of the VAT taxes and voting out Ralph Recto, the evil taxes have not been stopped. That is because defeating them in elections is not enough. The finance mafia have so many means to subvert the people’s will – including co-opting opposition politicians to bend to their will.

As we see in the media blitz of the World Bank last week, coordinated with finance chief Gary Teves who said he supported new taxes, the massive and hourly disinformation campaign of the tax fiends over controlled media is simply too dizzying for many people. Beyond the mind numbing media manipulation is the political, police and military forces used to cow any tax protestor the formation of a tax resistance movement. That is why we have to call for conscience block amongst our military compatriots to help the civilian leadership who’ve been in constant struggle against the exploitation and plunder, and slow genocide of the nation using hunger and poverty – social crises to destroy the nation and declare it a failed state for eventually direct foreign power or UN intervention and control.

If our nation is to survive, the blood sucking taxes must end. Te people have shown their enlightenment by defeating the representatives of the financial vampires in the 2007 election, but it is not enough. The vampires keep coming back, confusing the people with their recycled of lies and employing local zombies like Gloria Arroyo and Gary Teves to impose acquiesce to suicidal taxation. The military reformists and idealist should also see the predatory taxation as the culprit in the decimation of the Armed Forces material capabilities. It’s time for a national tax revolt, in cadence with the food and other revolts.

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