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Urban poor slam VAT bill

BAGUIO CITY (Jan. 29) — A militant urban poor alliance here, condemned the pronouncements of Congressman Mauricio Domogan during his Ulat sa Bayan yesterday that there is nothing to be worried about the new value added tax (VAT) bill recently passed by congress because it has safety nets provisions for the poor.

Domogan said that some basic commodities and agricultural products would be exempted from the said VAT increase. He also stressed that the proposed additional VAT is important because it will help the country recover from its financial deficits.

Organisasyon dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti Siudad (ORNUS) Chairperson emeritus Geraldine Cacho in an interview with Nordis belied Domogan’s claims that the exemption of some basic commodities and agricultural products (also known as safety nets) will shield the urban poor community from the impact of the increased VAT.

Cacho maintained that the additional VAT would make the lives of the urban poor more miserable. She explained that the masses being the end consumer will shoulder all the additional VAT because the producers will surely incorporate additional production cost to the end price of their products.

“Uray nu kuna da nga ma-exempt ti noodles ken sardinas nu ngumato met ti lana awan met lang ti serbi na ta guyuden na ti presyo ti basic commodities,” (Even if they say that noodles and sardines would be exempted if oil price will be affected it is useless because the price of basic commodities will increase) Cacho said. Besides, she said that other services like housing, transportation city services are affected, which are also basic needs.

Cacho declared that the urban poor community can no longer make both ends meet even without the said VAT increase, given the lack of jobs and very low income of urban poor families. “Karkarun tu a nu maimplementar dayta nga VAT,” (It will be even worse if the VAT increase is implemented) she asked.

“Imbes kuma nga dayta VAT, didiay kuma panakaaprobar ti nayon a sweldo a nabayagen nga ilablaban dagiti mangmangged ti sinuportaran na (Domogan),” (Instead of the new VAT bill, he (Domogan) should have supported the passing of the long standing demand of workers for a wage hike) she stipulated.

Meanwhile, the PRO-CONSUMERS expressed disappointment with the 126 legislators who approved the said VAT increase. In a statement, the group mentioned that the said legislators abandoned their sworn duty to protect the interest of their constituents.

The group also stressed that an increase in VAT is not needed if the government would improve its tax collection. “A higher VAT rate does not necessarily translate to higher collections since the key is still collection efficiency,” the statement stated.

Further, the group called for the Metro-Baguio consumers to support their call to denounce the VAT increase. # Kim Quitasol for NORDIS

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