Taxes From Giant Companies

This is a reaction to the news "Shell ordered to pay P7B in taxes" posted to the PDI Inquirer Headlines/Nation section, Nov. 16, 2009 issue."

Taxes are the life-blood of the government" an economist says. It is obligatory for every individual or institution to pay taxes according to gain or assets as mandated by the law, and it is the government's right and obliagtion to raise revenues to sustain its public services. But what is very annoying is the fact that the small-incomed citizens who are working so hard to make daily ends meet are the ones honestly and timely paying their taxes, while these giant, multi-million/multi-billion peso capitalists, who are, supposedly have the biggest share-contributions are obviously evading their obligations by not turning-over what is due to the government. The irony is, these capitalists are gaining from the citizens and yet these same citizens are carrying the burden by paying value added taxes that supposed to be paid by these capitalists. This is a double burden to the citizens and a "double-insult" to the government.

Compare what the government can get from the ordinary citizens from what it can get from these big companies are big differences. But the truth is not all taxes the government have supposed to be collected are not all being paid. You can check the SCRA (Supreme Court Review and Annotations) for hundreds of cases of tax evasion and tax avoidance involving big companies and capitalists. This is one thing that must be avoided so the government can continue its services to the general public in return.