Narrow fiscal choices EDITORIAL 06/07/2010

Narrow fiscal choices

EDITORIAL Click to enlarge 06/07/2010 Presumptive president-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino should get his numbers right, since he seems to set too lofty promises that he cannot keep even before he actually steps into Malacañang. Noynoy recently changed his promise on no new taxes or even a tax increase just recently, saying that he is keeping his options open due to the ballooning budget deficit which is expected to exceed P300 billion this year after a record P298 billion shortfall last year. On the contrary, the no tax campaign promise was traditional politics (trapo) at its worst since he even bragged during his sorties to “read my lips. No new taxes” obviously to get the vote of the lower economic class of the society that is still stinging from the effects of the expanded value added tax (eVAT) imposition of Gloria sometime in 2006 that raised the sales tax by two percentage points and widened its coverage to include electricity and fuel. The eVAT had a fleeting effect on government finances since both the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs remained habitually off target on their collections even after this was imposed. A recommendation from Gloria’s economic team to Noynoy was to again raise the VAT or the sales tax to 15 percent, which would be a three percentage point increase to head off a fiscal disaster that seems to be where public finances are heading after Gloria intentionally spent the lights out of the treasury in her last two years in office. Noynoy is starting to learn his economics and it seems that like Gloria at the start of her stolen 2001 presidency, the likely president will be addressing a growing nation in contrast with ever-declining government revenues. Without a valid mandate, Gloria transacted alliances in Congress to get her fiscal measures moving, which is always a painful undertaking for any legislator since proponents of such measures will carry the stigma of public hate all throughout their political lives....MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100607com1.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL Narrow fiscal choices FRONTLINE The ways of losing candidates ANALYSIS With home trouble, Obama faces hard choices on trips C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S ‘Smartmagic’ DIE HARD III The swarm of locusts HE SAYS Voice SHE SAYS House party