Defying debt and tax sins

CONSUMERS' DEMAND!
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/27-3/4/2012



In our previous issue we reported the spectacular performance of Argentina’s economy, which grew 94% over the 10 years since defaulting on over $100-billion debt in 2001. With its new economic vitality, Argentina has also emerged with a reinvigorated political will and, in the past month, rose to challenge Britain’s colonial claim on the islands of Malvinas off its coast.

Meanwhile, another country that defied the international “bankster” (banker-gangster) mafia is also doing very well today. Iceland voted several times to reject IMF and the Western banking community’s demand for its citizens to repay British and Dutch banks’ losses from deposits in Icesave, an Icelandic bank used by the banksters to hyper-leverage their Ponzi schemes that led to the global liquidity contraction in 2008 with the Wall Street crash.

As a response to the Icelanders’ vehement opposition to the dictates of the international financial mafia, Iceland’s financial authorities imposed currency controls, prohibited foreign exchange related to capital account transactions, and required domestic parties to submit all the foreign currency they acquire, either from the sale of goods and services or, in another manner, through a domestic financial institution. Despite this, the ratings agencies have upgraded Iceland’s credit rating, making it investment grade again, leading some to comment, “Iceland upgrade sure makes default look palatable” (www.creditwritedowns.com by Edward Harrison). That, too, is what we Filipinos need to learn from: Defy the IMF-WB and the global banksters; stare them down; and shrug off their financial goon tactics since they can’t do much about it anyway.

Iceland’s victory over the global financial mafia has prompted analysts to call the attention of Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, and Greece to that Nordic island country’s example. The same should hold for the Philippines as we Filipinos have had to deal with our own “debt trap,” one that has been wrapped around us like a straight jacket, perennially being pulled tighter and tighter with tax demands left and right.

After the past two and a half decades of tax “reform” (code word for “deform”) in the guise of VAT and constantly expanding, new “sin taxes” being pressed on our legislature, and with the looming increase of this VAT from 12% to 15% that is being pitched to the media by top honchos of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, who are just waiting for the opportune time to spring this on our people, the Philippines is practically suffering the same fate as hapless Greece, whose ruling politicians are allowing the financial oppression--but ours is only 10 times worse.

Filipinos should therefore no longer believe the “no new taxes” promise of PeNoy as his people are imposing new ones by hook or by crook--via direct taxes and/or higher rates from privatized public utilities.

Argentina and Iceland both defied the international banking cartel. Now look at the economic freedom and progress they gained from their resistance and revolt.

Unfortunately, Philippine mainstream media still choose not to be instrumental in making the nation understand the financial crisis and the need for Filipinos to stand together and shun continued servitude to foreign (and even domestic) debts without question. What most of our media practitioners do is to only highlight the opinions and commentaries of mainstream economists, such as those from the baby boom generation of the UP School of Economics, whose views are almost all co-opted by the international bankster mafia, which promote debt and more debt, as well as taxes and more taxes to service that debt.

These economists, like Ben Diokno and Filomeno Sta. Ana, praise the “tax reforms” without questioning the debt where these are geared for, and push for more “sin taxes.”

The “sin” tax proponents, by the way, argue that their proposal is good for tobacco farmers and consumers as it discourages the unhealthy practice of smoking and will force farmers to shift to other “more profitable” crops. But why is the tax collector so suddenly concerned with the welfare of the taxpayer?

And where is the support facility for the shift to other crops? Last I checked, tobacco farmers are only being assisted by companies such as Fortune Tobacco in constructing water impounding projects all over the tobacco growing regions.

And while Sta. Ana suggests a shift from tobacco to vegetables, peanuts, corn, and mungbeans, the fact is, these crops are not suitable for growing in the province of Ilocos.

Tobacco earns P70,000 to P120,000 per hectare per season. Sta. Ana’s crops certainly cannot earn that much. Just look at the galvanized roofs of tobacco farmers’ homes versus the ones made of nipa of vegetable farmers.

I have fought against these “sin” tax reforms since the 80s, arguing against the likes of Vic Abola of the corporatist University of Asia and Pacific and foreign think tanks. As they call for a standard rate for all tobacco products, denying any distinction among the different classes and price categories, which invariably discriminates against locally manufactured brands and consequently local tobacco farmers, their prescriptions have not changed. It is like pitting 140 lbs. welterweight Manny Pacquiao against 224 lbs. heavyweight Muhammad Ali during his prime.

The present tax on tobacco products is tiered on several classes and costs. It is thus clear that this new sin tax “reform” campaign is designed only to favor foreign interests.

Well, this isn’t surprising anymore since most of our so-called economists rely on these foreign entities for their bread and butter. So why should they care when our own farmers will suffer in the process?

I am told that tobacco farmers are now on the verge of revolt due to this new attempt to impose these unjust taxes on our tobacco products. As such, we Filipino taxpayers and tobacco players should jointly put up defiant media and popular campaigns against these foreign impositions that bedevil our economic liberty, progress, and prosperity.

(Tune in to 1098AM, DWAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on “Education policies: Retrogression?;” visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com for our articles plus TV and radio archives)