No taxation without representation

If I remember correctly President Noynoy Aquino copied George Bush Sr. by mouthing something similar to the Bush line: “Read my lips: No new taxes”.

Well so far he may be telling the truth but at the same time setting us all up for an ambush. Yes, P-Noy may have no need for a new tax bill because there are more than enough laws as well as ways and means to tax the hell out of all of us.

The Aquino administration does not need to push for new taxes because all they have to do is increase taxes!

To be fair, let us not go blaming the President for this situation because he is keeping his word: No new taxes….so far. But there is nothing that should stop us from contacting our Congressmen and Senators as well as the members of the Commission on Appointments to ask the incoming Secretary of Finance to explain exactly what his detailed tax plan is in terms of taxing the hell out of the citizens or raising taxes?

We should also ask the CA to grill the incoming or outgoing Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government what their plans are to RATIONALIZE and REGULATE the way cities and towns all over the country have been imposing or raising local taxes particularly on land values?

I have yet to learn what other schemes, tactics or techniques the Department of Finance will be employing, but from the looks of it, every hardworking Filipino here and abroad will be the target of the DOF and LGUs.

Consider for instance how cities, towns and barangays have been on a rampage to declare many parts of their territory as commercial strips, districts etc. they are not interested in the prestige of having a mall or a row of quaint little restaurants, they are interested in changing land classification from residential to commercial.

When that happens, they can then expand the area of coverage by “Block” or road. Presto, you now own expensive property but you must also now pay higher real estate tax.

We recently experienced this nightmare in Lipa City where our family has owned a hectare of agricultural land. We raise chickens, our neighbors raise fighting cocks and horses. The area was part of the Leviste Estate or LPL, which has long been subdivided as part of the failed Manila Equestrian club. As you can imagine if lots are based on hectare sizes, you don’t have many neighbors.

Some five or 10 years ago, the Levistes entered into a joint venture with golf developers Fil-Estate and built up The Summit golf course & residential area on the far side of the original 130-hectare LPL estate.

As a result, the Lipa City Assessors Office apparently changed the classification of the entire LPL estate based on “table mapping” or the stroke of the pen without investigating or consulting the other property owners.

By that simple act, all of us owned land that instantly doubled its value even if we were a kilometer away from the nearest block of the Summit. In fact “they” are so exclusive, that “us” farm owners don’t simply pass through their gated community. We have to tell their guards that we live nearby or are passing through.

Subsequent to this Tax without Representation, the former mayor and his administration also went on a tax binge and increased our assessments behind our backs. Here is where they cut our throats and slashed our pockets.

In terms of on the ground land prices, the common knowledge and selling price of property in Lipa City and surroundings have been from P500 to P1,000 per sqm. on the average. I recently discovered that the City Assessor pegged our area at a value of P2,800 per square meter before he retired.

How do you value something for more than people can actually sell it for?

Before some smart ass calls this my personal rant and rave, I suggest that many of you go and check with your town or city assessor as well as the BIR, what the current and planned tax valuations will be for your area.

If you inherited, or you croaked and your kids inherit, will they be able to pay the BIR based on the assessed value of your property? 

In fairness to the BIR, they will listen and consider your appeals if you have the documentation and history of your property and surroundings. Last time we left Pasig, we even saw a streamer of the Pasig City BIR office that they are studying plans to rationalize and raise zonal valuations.

Considering the thousands of pesos many Filipinos have to pay annually for real estate tax, the DILG and the DOF should at the very least REQUIRE their people to send out registered mail concerning such hearings, meetings or plans. The barangay captains should be at the frontline of announcing and conducting such events.

But more than mandatory notification, I pray that our lawmakers as well as those in the LGU and Executive department would at least do something to regulate the valuation and taxation process especially on the ground.

I would support a “one zonal valuation system” but I’m sure that many Filipinos would also support a rationalized “inheritance tax scheme” where the government does not punish surviving spouses or the next generation on property that we already paid for to acquire and continue to pay for in real estate taxes annually.

In the same breath, let us not punish citizens for buying land, building homes or having property just because national and local government officials need money for their projects or their pockets.