BY: DONALD SEVILLA
KILLING US SOFTLY
Taxes are the lifeblood of any government, from the time of kings to our present day democracies.
The feeling of discontentment which often arises from people’s dissatisfaction with the way things are run, cannot just be taken for granted and outright be disregarded.
Throughout history popular uprisings started with a tiny spark that started the flames of change that altered the course of societies.
When the French elite turned deaf and blind to the people’s cries for help to assuage their hunger, it started the French revolution. Marie Antoinette’s callous remark of “Let them eat cake.”, sparked the public anger that led to the Bastille’s downfall and her day at the guillotine.
Many other examples we can cite, such as the dumping of tea bags into Boston harbor, popularly referred to as the Boston Tea Party that triggered protests that eventually led to the American Revolution and the tearing up of cedulas by the Katipuneros that started the uprising against our Spanish colonizers.
Fast forward to our present day, we still haven’t freed ourselves totally from this bondage.
Local governments have taxed us left and right, invoking the local government code ‘s power to generate revenue.
But just how enough is enough and how equitable these taxes are with respect to the basic services we are getting from government is a subject of serious debate.
Vis a vis the real property taxes we are made to pay, are we satisfied with the delivery of basic services we are experiencing? Do we feel getting the short end of the stick?
To cite a concrete example, if one is made to pay real property taxes on land that one’s home is built on, in the amount that translates to 38k per annum or more than 3k per month, what would you be expecting from government in return?
This only refers to the real property tax due without considering other business taxes you will pay if some business is established.
Yet to put things in context, 3k a month is equivalent to most HOA(Homeowners Association) dues on high end condo developments in urbanized cities like Metro Manila and Cebu.
Here you get top notch amenities, like swimming pool, clubhouse facilities. a gym, 24- hr. security and CCTV coverage in common areas, open spaces and others.
But for paying 3k/ month in property taxes what benefits are we getting? Poor garbage collection, almost no designated free parking on city streets which is quite a hassle as most are clamping zones and an utter lack of other services to make our lives comfortable.
All in all are we getting our money’s worth? We want to claim our place is a paradise and a highly liveable city. Yet living conditions for our people are far from satisfactory.
High taxes, high prices of basic commodities,high transportation costs,high electricity bills and even the arrastre rates at our port are among the highest anywhere in the country.
Are we having a better quality of life now than
before? Or are we living in a hyped up world, carefully curated to project a glamorous image for social media appearances and propaganda?
This is some serious food for thought!