TAX amnesty may no longer be necessary if the government can recover assets lost to corruption and if the Marcos family just pays up the P203 billion estate tax and penalties to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Partido Lakas ng Masa presidential candidate Leody de Guzman made this remark yesterday as he chided former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for the latter’s proposal of tax amnesty for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“Kung totoong nasa puso niya ang mga MSME, bakit hindi niya pinaghain si Imee ng ganitong panukala sa kongreso? At bakit ngayon lang? Dahil ang kanyang sinabi ay pawang pamumulitika lamang (If his concern for MSMEs is genuine, why didn’t he ask (his sister Sen.) Imee Marcos to file a measure on this in Congress. Why only now? It’s obvious he is only playing politics),” the labor leader said.
De Guzman warned that while a tax amnesty or tax holiday offers palliative relief, it could result to more adverse effects in the long run, including a drop in revenue collections that will deprive funding for key programs to address the pandemic and boost the economy.
“Kung babawasan pa ang tax base, itutulak nito ang gobyerno sa pangungutang (A shrinking tax base will ultimately push the government to borrow more),” he pointed out.
“My counter proposal is to get the needed funds from the select few who has the capacity to pay. Tax the billionaires, recover the unlawful gains of the corrupt, and go after tax evaders, like the Marcos family who has yet to pay the P203 billion unpaid estate taxes,” he said.
The labor sector bet said the existing tax system is already lopsided in favor of the wealthiest families.
“Flat rate na sa six percent ang estate tax dahil sa TRAIN 1. Nakailang ulit na ang extension sa pagbabayad ng estate tax. Sa ordinaryong tao, isang araw lang ng delay sa tax payments, penalty agad! (Because of TRAIN 1, estate tax has been reduced to a flat rate of six percent. Estate tax payment deadlines have been moved back again and again.
But for ordinary Filipinos, one hour of delay in tax payments means being slapped with penalties),” he lamented.
