I was just in a coffee shop here in Makati and while enjoying my coffee and doing some photo editing(I went out of the house due to the bad atmosphere after doing nothing whole day) I overheard the conversation of the other people at the other table which I think is about tax help.
source: http://www.countplus.com.au/
They are actually talking about taxes in particular that the lady is I think a doctor and have missed something last year in her tax filing(tax return filing) thus she ended up paying some penalties. The other guys is I believe is a service provider of the doctor’s friend and I am not sure if he is a CPA or a tax agent. So while listening at times I kinda smiled because the guy have some vague answer to the ladies questions. The doctor I believe is a VAT registered professional and have some trouble filling forms thus she ended up missing some quarterly deadlines. She keeps on saying that she does not want to pay taxes anymore or so I heard. I guess we Pinoys don’t understand much why we have to pay taxes. It could be of great help if the BIR’s on going project to make an oneline tax filing for all possible very soon.
Yes it is unfortunate that our government is corrupt that taxes we pay don’t end up in the good intentions that are suppose to be use. We pay taxes to support the economy, pay our soldiers(may condolences to the 44 men of the PNP-SAF who lost their lives in pursuing terrorist in Mindanao),and other government functions. Imagine if these people are not paid and end up not showing up for work to protect our nation and to enable our economy grow? That is why even if some of leaders we have put in office(yes you are one of those who put the leaders that we have today)are corrupt we need to support our government by paying our taxes. Being a good citizen means paying the right taxes and not evading it.
Taxes play an important role in the nation’s growth. Yes there are countries that don’t tax their citizens(Brunei would be the nearest example) since their economy or their businesses are enough to support the government’s function, other nations like the Philippines don’t have that full capacity to do so thus rely on taxes. Taxes also acts as control mechanism. Taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages called sin taxes are imposed to actually control the use of such. It has a dual by product that is generate funds for government needs at the same time control such use to avoid the dangerous effects of overuse.
The year 2014 just ended and lots of people now are as I have observed more aware of taxes. Lots of questions about TIN, tax payments, and how to know whether their former employer did apply them for TIN are being asks in my blog. I planned to devote some post about taxes particularly for employees because the bulk of Philippine tax comes from it.