So many government people are claiming that they are to be credited for the formulation and implementation of the much-praised (and much abhorred) extended value added tax, or what is more popularly known as e-vat. Foremost in this list would be ex-senator Ralph Recto, and I would even give him the bulk of the credit for it.
When you ask the ordinary pedestrians [who are mostly also taxpayers, let me emphasize that], though, about how they appreciate the e-vat in terms of its contribution to economic growth, they share a common sentiment — they don’t feel the benefit of the evat; they only know it’s one of the causes of the rising prices of the commodities they buy.
Of course, that is not the whole story, yes? But then, who’s to explain it to these people in a language that they would understand?
More to the point, who is responsible for monitoring the allocation and disbursement of the funds raised since the implementation of this e-vat which has, from last count, amounted to billions of pesos already? How can we be sure that this big amount added to the country’s coffers are going to projects that would directly and/or indirectly benefit the ordinary pedestrian, and not just filling the abysmal pockets of the “chosen few?” Who is responsible for identifying, defining and prioritizing the projects that would be beneficial to the ordinary people? Who is to make sure that the benefit will reach the grassroots?
And then, who will answer my questions?
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.