Hike in public transport tax

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) recently issued Revenue Regulations (RR) 9-2007, raising the common carriers' tax by around 2,600 percent. This tax has never been raised since 1978. The new taxes if this plan will push through, will be as follows:

1. M.Manila jeepneys, from P288 to P 7,884
2. Provincial jeepneys, from P144 to P 3,948.

3. M. Manila taxis, from PP432 to P11,832
4. Provincial taxis, from P288 to P 7,884.

5. Buses with 30 or less pass capacity, from P432 to P11,832
6. Buses with 31-50 pass capacity, from P720 to P19,704
7. Buses with 51+ pass capacity, from P864 to P23,652.

8. Cars for hire w/out chauffeurs, from P216 to P 5,916
9. Cars for hire with chauffeurs, from P360 to P 9,852.

Wow, the government never really runs out of plans to siphon off blood and sweat from taxpayers! Taxes, whether small or high, almost always result in distortion of prices, making prices of the taxed commodities or services higher. So government slaps these higher taxes, even on the assumption of lesser than 2,600 percent average increase, on public transportation. Operators and drivers of said public transpo will demand higher fare, and the series of inflationary impact will happen down the line.

Government is always a hypocrite institution. It says it wants to encourage energy conservation in the light of high world petroleum prices and global warming, urging people to leave their cars and take public transportation. Then government says it wants more money for itself and its "public services", so it is hiking the taxes on public transportation. Which will discourage more people to take public transpo because of higher fares, not to mention the inconvenience of various transfers from tricycle to jeepney or fx or bus to train to jeepney again. And thus, they would rather bring their cars to work and school for their kids. At the end of the day, the call for "energy conservation" is only lip-service, while the call for tax hike is the real goal. More money for itself, for its bureaucracy and pork barrel.

Low taxes, or zero tax on certain incomes and services, are "public service" by themselves. Because government allows the citizens to keep more money in their pockets so that they can use that money for their household and personal needs and priorities.

If this new round of tax hike -- remember the expanded and hiked value-added tax (VAT) of 2005 -- is objectionable, what is the alternative?

Retain the current tax rates on public transpo, and allow more competition among public transport operators. Allow air-con vans and fx to ply the routes of tricycles and jeepneys, to take longer routes, so that people will be encouraged to leave their cars and take the air-con vans. This way, we will have less traffic, less congestion, less pollution, and less greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission that contribute to global warming. Allow private operators to invest in modern, more commuter-friendly public transport system, instead of taking away their money that should go for fleet modernization, to the already bloated bureaucracy and unpopular pork barrel of politicians.

What about the budget deficit that refuses to go away? The big public debt that refuses to reduce significantly? It is time for government to look inwards, do the sacrifice from itself and not from the taxpayers, by cutting many of expenditures which are often either unnecessary or wasteful and corruption-tainted.