Noy to consider tax raise in 2012

MANILA, Philippines -  A Palace official hinted yesterday that President Aquino might consider raising taxes in 2012 or before the middle of his term in 2013.

“If calculations are correct, if there is a need to raise taxes, we can always consider that next year,” said Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications on Strategic Planning and Development.

Carandang agreed with the proposal of a senior Palace reporter that the best time to raise taxes, and which has proven to be successful, is at least two years before elections, which, in this case is the 2013 midterm senatorial polls.

“I agree, that is the best time because that is when your numbers are high. But we don’t see it happening right now,” he told government-run radio station dzRB, noting that it is not yet too late for the government to legislate new tax-generating measures.

He clarified that the President still maintains the position that the government needs to plug the loopholes in the tax collection efforts first, before any increase in taxes that would only burden consumers.

The Philippine Institute of Development Studies reported that the Aquino government might not have enough funds for it to sustain and meet the goals it had set for the achievement of Millennium Development goals.

The administration is contemplating on privatizing losing government-owned companies and they are looking for new ways to improve the economic standing of the country, instead of imposing new taxes.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima even proposed last January to sell the Quezon City headquarters of Philippine National Police at Camp Crame, and the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s Camp Aguinaldo to raise funds and further pump prime the economy.

Purisima told Palace reporters that privatizing Camps Crame and Aguinaldo is one of the options they are thinking.

“Do we need these camps in the city? I’ve had discussions with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, and they’re all very supportive of the fact that Aguinaldo and Crame should probably not be there,” he said.