Outcry over taxes

Who loves taxes?

The controversy that has arisen over the new Revenue Code of Bácolod need not happen had the complaining businessmen not slept on their right to express their opinions on the matter before it was passed. Three things are coming out that supports this tide of complaints. The first is that this was done quickly and they were caught flatfooted or unaware.

Had the complaining businessmen bothered to check their memories and look for documentation like several news items about the proposed code, they will find that this was not as quickly done as they claim. I remember some officials of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry talk about this planned code as early as the first quarter of last year.

I also commented about this planned increase when I criticized SM City about their arrogant stance in relation to the city that had been favoring them by diverting traffic to pass through SM mall.

I also recall that there were hearings on this planned code and that the businessmen were invited to these hearings. Have the businessmen forgotten this or is this selective memory?

Now that the code has been approved and being implemented they are crying out that this was done with haste. They were not caught unaware; they were caught with their guards down. Those who neglect their right to oppose when they ought to have opposed lose that right. If blame is to be laid it must be on their doorstep.

In fact, they cannot shout that they were not heard because they were informed and they were in constant contact with city officials. In a word, there is no bar for them to talk or discuss the proposed code long before it was approved by the Sanggunian. They have easy access to city officials.

Then there is the complaint that the taxes were increased by as much as 600 percent. Percentages can be deceiving unless the concrete number is taken into consideration and in relation to overall factors or elements.

Six hundred percent is being bruited about. A 600 percent of one is only 600. The complainant should tell us what the exact figure is then we will be able to appreciate the allegations but the complaining businessmen are not telling us. They talk of percentages and, to repeat, that can be misleading.

Then we must also consider where that high percentage increase is. Is it in real estate, in entertainment, in funeral parlors, in eateries or big time businessmen?

I paid a higher real estate tax this year than before but I do not complain because I find it reasonable and affordable, a price of a good meal. Ten years ago the simplest coffin and funeral services cost less than P10,000. How much is it now? Ask Rolling Hills and Alisbo because their price rises every time SSS increases funeral benefits.

How about asking the complaining businessmen what was the price of the items they sold five years ago and what the price is today. How much was a bag of cement five years ago and its price today. We can all play a game on an item by item computation.

Then there is their proposal to slow down or to implement the increase by phases. Let’s put this tax increase in perspective.

The last amendment to the tax code was 18 years ago. This means that businessmen have had savings for 18 years because the city did not increase the taxes. In a sense that is a “no interest loan” or savings for 18 years. Should not businessmen be happy because had the city been raising taxes every five years (would they have been happy had the city done that?) they would have paid that money and they probably be paying higher now.

The 10 percent allowable increase every 5 years are cumulative. Ask your accountants to extrapolate.

There is the warning that businessmen would transfer. With or without tax increase they will transfer or go where they can get the most. Are these complaining businessmen in Bácolod because some taxes in Talisay and San Carlos are higher? The fact is that, in their pricing, businessmen include taxes as their expense so the truth is that the consumers, not them, pay the higher taxes. Perhaps their net incomes are reduced a bit but I doubt it is considerable as to run them out of business. No business goes bankrupt because of taxes.

Taxes rise with progress; progress comes with taxes. When a city progresses who do you think are most benefited? We can have low taxes but can we demand for better services?

What the businessmen should demand is the value for their taxes. Here the city has no defense except when we do not pay our taxes.

Dialogs are being held now. Will the city “damn the torpedoes” or buckle down?*

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