Press Release
July 31, 2008

KIKO TO GOVERNMENT: STOP STEALING BEFORE YOU START COLLECTING

Following President Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday where she announced that the 12% EVAT will have to stay, Senate Majority Leader and Independent senator Kiko Pangilinan today said that he is against the scrapping of the said taxes but sees the need to lower it to 8%.

"I am not in favor of scrapping it, because the EVAT is a bitter pill that we have to swallow to aid our fiscal situation. However, collecting 12% in these trying times is, as we can all feel, too painful for the Filipino. We must consider lowering the percentage to 8% instead of 12%," Kiko stressed.

"The crucial challenge for us is to ensure that the VAT collections indeed go to the people and not to corrupt officials?that our sacrifices because of EVAT will not be used for self-serving purposes. We need to be vigilant so that the tax we pay will come back to us in the form of efficient public service, no more, no less," Kiko added.

"The government needs to establish its credibility first before it can make its people understand the burden it is making them carry. If the public thinks its government condones corruption, or that is an agent of corruption, it will never have the moral authority to collect taxes in the first place. Stop stealing before start collecting," Kiko ended.

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