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WITH its
assets pool that’s slated for privatization shrinking,
the government could end up imposing burdensome taxes
this year, the independent think tank Ibon Foundation
said Tuesday.
“At the
rate the government’s revenue effort is going—without
that one-off privatization revenues—the government faces
a budget deficit” of P82.3 billion this year, the
foundation’s research head Jose Enrique Africa said at
the group’s annual “Birdtalk” briefing on the economic
outlook.
He said
the low rate of tax collection is worrisome, and further
problems are likely to be experienced if new taxes are
not introduced.
The
government, he said, has not been able to improve its
revenue collection because the Arroyo administration is
“involved in or otherwise tolerates large-scale graft
and corruption, as well as corporate tax evasion.”
However,
the government could turn away from fiscal problems this
year through a robust crackdown on large-scale
corruption and corporate tax evaders, Africa said. “But
this seems unlikely given the Arroyo administration’s
track record,” he added.
It could
also reverse its trade-liberalization policies by
increasing tariffs on imports, and cut back on
allocations for debt service, defense and patronage
spending.
“But
both moves again are doubtful,”
Africa said.
The only
other option is some imaginative way of advancing
revenues, but again this would be merely buying time.
Africa said, “Without a change of economic policies, President
Arroyo may soon run out of options.”
The
Arroyo administration recorded a P12.6-billion budget
surplus in the first 11 months of 2007 fueled by
revenues generated from the privatization of government
assets. The privatization revenues of P90.6 billion in
2007 were the highest in the country’s recent history.
Even the
privatization craze under the Ramos administration, said
Ibon, generated just P71.4 billion from 1992 to 1997.
Total privatization revenues for the past 15 years
before 2007 were P93.9 billion.
Assets
lined up for sale include the government’s 12-percent
stake in the Manila Electric Co., the Food Terminals
Inc. property in Taguig, a prime property in Fujimi,
Japan, and other smaller pieces of real estate.
Other
priorities include making further headway toward the
privatization of the generating assets of the National
Power Corp. (Napocor). The government is likely to
achieve its target of selling 70 percent of Napocor’s
assets by the end of 2008, Africa said. |
