Sunday, September 04, 2005

NR0902:the SC's immoral and anti-people decision on VAT

From the Office of Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran
News Release September 2, 2005


High Court decision on VAT to have severe backlash against corrupt and illegitimate presidency

Anakpawis Representative Crispin Beltran said that there will be hell to pay once the Supreme Court fully lifts the temporary restraining order in the expanded value-added tax and allows its implementation. He said that the Supreme Court’s timing of the release of the decision favoring the government was suspicious, that it coincided with the cold-blooded murder of the amended impeachment complaint against Pres.Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the hands of the Arroyo’s allies in the Justice Committee.

“It’s hard not to connect two and two together. Malacanang has been working overtime these past months to orchestrate the dismissal of the impeachment complaint and to literally buy Mrs. Arroyo some time and a fighting chance. The SC’s previous decision to declare a TRO on the VAT has also been exposed as a product of Malacanang’s behind-the-scenes tacticizing to deflect a little heat away from the beleaguered executive.”

“Whatever relief or time the murder of the impeachment complaint has brought Mrs. Arroyo is immediately negated by Supreme Court’s decision on the EVAT, because the outrage the pending implementation of the infamous law will be great, and the political backlash will also be severe on the already highly unpopular and illegitimate presidency,” he said.

An immoral and anti-poor decision

The veteran labor leader turned legislator threw serious doubt on the wisdom and morality of the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold all parts of the expanded tax, which ends exemptions on a wide range of goods and services. The expanded VAT ends tax exemptions on the sale of electricity and oil products; coal, natural gas and indigenous fuels; cotton, cotton seeds and non-food agricultural products; domestic air and sea transport; medical and legal services; works of art and literary works.The law also raises the corporate income tax to 35 percent from 32 percent for three years. The rate falls to 30 percent in 2010.

“There is nothing in the Philippine Constitution that says the government can impose laws that will drive Filipinos to even greater depths of penury. This decision of the SC is an unforgivable attack against the welfare of the Filipino people, and the judges who agreed to the EVAT’s constitutionality have become party to Malacanang’s relentless undermining of the economic welfare of the poor and the middle class,” he said.

“The imposition and implementation of the EVAT will cause yet another chain-link of increases in the already exorbitant prices of basic commodities and rates of social services. There is no justifying such a brutal, anti-poor and anti-people law. The EVAT is being hailed by no one but the greedy circles of big business and foreign creditors whom the corrupt president is desperate to keep on her side. Without doubt, the collections from the EVAT will only end up in the private coffers of the corrupt in government, and as bribe fund of the Office of the President,” he concluded.#

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