Taxed to death

It’s been said that death and taxes are the only two certainties in life. But the high tax rates in the Philippines may well hasten the death of many Filipinos if not for their coping mechanism -- finding happiness wherever.

Before a bill to lower income tax could gain traction in the House of Representatives, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima quickly dealt it the coup d’ grace by saying any tax rate reduction would slow down the economy.

It did not matter to Purisima that as per the 2014 report of the Tax Management Association of the Philippines (TMAP), Filipinos are the most heavily taxed in all of Southeast Asia.

By the way, a recent survey also says that Filipinos are the most happy with their jobs despite having one of the lowest salaries in Asia.

To others, the low salaries and high taxes would be enough of a double black-eye to have anything to smile about. But Filipinos see silver linings in all dark clouds and smiling or laughing is part of their coping mechanism.

According to TMAP, an annual salary of P500,000 is taxed a whopping 32 percent in the Philippines, while its equivalent is only taxed 2 percent in Singapore, 11 percent in Malaysia, 12 percent in Laos, and 20 percent in Vietnam and Cambodia.

The tax rates in the Philippines for  fixed income earners in the various other tax levels are also highest in Southeast Asia, affecting both the poorest 10 percent and the richest 10 percent of Filipinos.

In the Philippines, there are only two certainties – death and VERY HIGH taxes. And no, lowering taxes would not hobble the Philippine economy if only billions of billions of pesos of taxes paid by Filipinos are not stolen by the corrupt in government and their cohorts in the private sector who rig contracts and pocket more than half of the funds allocated for public projects. –End-

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