Tax is the blood of a country. It sustains the purpose of the government. According to the Bureau of Internal revenue, only five million people file their income tax returns out of 39 million people in the labour force. This leads to chronic budget deficits and poor delivery status of basic services in the country.
Now that the country’s agency collecting taxes is under a new administration and with a promise to run after tax evaders, hopefully the coming years’ government budget will be enough for better services for the people.
The agency just announced that they are now able to investigate the offshore bank accounts of Filipinos as the government tries to clamp down on tax cheats. This is an additional power that will help catch these tax cheaters. They are also waging a ‘name and shame’ campaign by filing criminal charges against high- profile personalities and companies suspected of cheating the government out of taxes or import duties.
As a citizen of this country and as a Filipino, it is our duty to remit tax and be under the law concerning the matter. Let us not be one of the shameless freaks, who ignore their duties and responsibilities in our land. Let us not be self- centered. Let us always remember that paying and remitting taxes, is one way of showing patriotism in a very quiet manner.
You're paying too much lip-service to your new govt. Don't blame people for avoiding paying taxes. We are so called Homo Economicus, which means that we are rational beings that invest their resources in activities that pay off. As long as people don't trust the government, they see corruption and waste, they won't be willing to pay taxes. And it doesn't matter how restrictive is the law and how harsh is the enforcement. Homo Economicus will always find a way to avoid paying tax if they think that they are not getting a value good enough in return. So the calls should be above all for the govt to improve its ways, not the people...
ReplyDeleteWhat a stubborn Polish Economist.. lol...One of the reasons why this country is not moving forward because they just think of theirselves.. haha
ReplyDeleteAnd that was exactly my point. To convince ppl to pay taxes, the govt must show that they're thinking beyond their own pockets...
ReplyDeleteLet's give them a chance. The wrong thing is we always generalize.
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