|
ALBAY
Gov. Joey Salceda is determined to have the public get
its hands on tax rebates from some 2.3 million
individual taxpayers last year, estimated to total P16
billion, considering it an emergency resource.
“I’ll
keep on pushing for it. [This is a standby measure that
it can only be used if] economic data show that the US
recession is negatively affecting the economy. It’s a
break-glass-in-case-of-fire [scenario],” Salceda told
journalists after his presentation at the Eaglewatch
economic briefing in Makati City Wednesday.
Salceda
said the rebate, included in his proposed P75-billion
fiscal-stimulus package, was among the proposals
disapproved by the Cabinet.
The
proposed rebate aimed to refund the taxes paid by some
2.3 million individual taxpayers in 2007 whose annual
earnings are below P500,000. Under the rebate, each
taxpayer is entitled to receive P7,000 each in the event
of a US recession.
He said
fiscal measures implemented by the government in 2005,
which includes the expanded value-added tax, fell
heavily on the shoulders of the middle class, leading to
total household-income losses of P451 billion the next
year, 2006.
The
other measures include the removal of cross-subsidy by
distribution utilities in the power sector that cost
households P34 billion; National
Power Corp. tariffs, P56 billion; VAT, P76 billion;
higher oil prices, P118 billion; peso appreciation, P39
billion; and upward creeping in the income-tax bracket,
P17 billion.
Apart
from households, the peso appreciation has also caused
the country to lose out on P225 billion annually in
remittances from migrant workers, he added.
Seemingly in exasperation, he practically said the
government’s fiscal measures are “meant to kill the
middle class.”
To
resolve these issues, Salceda urged the government to
think out-of-the-box and formulate policies that would
help OFWs and the middle class.
He said
one way of doing this is through incentive programs. An
example of this is the monthly P5,000 incentive the
Department of Social Welfare and Development gives to
families to ensure they keep their children in school
and get them regular medical checkups.
Salceda
also proposed a “bring-a-friend” incentive for OFWs for
a reward of $200 if they bring a tourist or a group of
tourists to the Philippines each time they come home.
He said
their targets are near at hand—or near at work—their
employers and co-employees who are not Filipinos. He
noted each foreign tourist spends around $1,200 in the
Philippines.
Salceda
said that the funds to be used can come from the
Philippine Travel Authority, which collects P740 million
a year from travel taxes. “[When I presented it to the
President], she smiled. She’s open to the idea.”
The
fiscal-stimulus package is a one-shot measure that is
considered a proportional response to the threat of a US
recession.
Salceda
said its main objective is to protect the growth
momentum in the domestic economy by shoring up consumer
confidence and is seen as the economic opposite of a
“preemptive evacuation” of the economy.
Salceda
said that so far the economy has been sailing smoothly,
but it is not to the credit of the administration but
more on the President’s luck.
Salceda
said the rise in OFW remittances and the mushrooming of
business-process outsourcing centers are more of a
market movement rather than results of
government-initiated programs.
Salceda
said this is clearly seen in 28 quarters of consecutive
growth, the highest in 30 years, despite the fact that
the government is implementing measures to balance the
budget.
Also a
contributor to growth is the lowest recorded annual
inflation in 21 years of 3.3 percent in the fourth
quarter of 2007.
Salceda
also said that despite the economic and development
challenges being faced by the country, it is already on
its way to lifting more Filipinos out of poverty. He
noted government social spending produced a 30-percent
increase in incomes of the lowest 40 percent from 2000
to 2003. |
