Approval of President Marcos tax proposals will not be a “slam dunk” in the Senate, and may even be blocked, if they will cause misery to an already overtaxed people, Senator Chiz Escudero warned.
And if the administration team that will be selling the tax proposals “is the same crew that did a poor job in explaining the Maharlika Investment Fund” then, the revenue measures may be doomed, Escudero pointed out.
“At this time, selling taxes to Filipinos is like asking an Eskimo to buy a freezer,” the veteran legislator declared.
“Expect a massive pushback when you start taxing any good added on the cart,”
“One, we have become an e-commerce republic. So, expect a massive pushback when you start taxing any goods added on the cart,” the senator from Bicol said, referring to a Palace-backed bill that will slap taxes on online purchases.
The seasoned lawmaker further identified the plan to raise motor vehicle registration fees “as one that will also face roadblocks as car owners are already taxed twice daily at the pump when gas has a VAT on top of the excise tax.”
“Tapos nandyan pa ang toll, the price motorists pay for the government’s failure to fix public roads,” he added.
Escudero said in pushing these measures in the time of “high prices and low wages,” the Marcos administration will be putting “its huge political capital on the line.”
What would help, he said, is good messaging that will win over the people that while these proposals are painful, they are needed.
“Dapat ang ipapadalang mga taong magbebenta ng isang mahirap lunukin na produkto ay ‘yung hindi mahina sa pagpapaliwanag.”
“Kaya dapat ang ipapadalang mga taong magbebenta ng isang mahirap lunukin na produkto ay ‘yung hindi mahina sa pagpapaliwanag,” he stressed.
Escudero, however, pointed out that “as courtesy to the President, I am going to listen to the proposals, study its merits, because in the Senate, every idea must be given its day.”
