Exempting Pia from taxes wrong, unfair
There is a proposal to exempt Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach from paying the more than P4 million in taxes due the government from her winnings. If the proposal is to show the appreciation of a grateful nation for her winning the title, there are certainly other ways to do so without being unfair to all the other taxpayers in the country who have neither the money and the opportunity to make more than she now has, nor the fame and honor that will forever never be theirs.
Aside from being unfair, it also sends the wrong signal to everyone -- that the country's strident tax laws can be bent whenever the powers that be feel like bending them. Not only that, the reason for wanting to bend the country's tax laws is frivolous. Not to make comparisons, but Manny Pacquiao brought more honor and fame to the country than Pia. And yet the government hounded Pacquiao almost endlessly for the taxes he allegedly failed to pay.
Is it because Pia is prettier than Pacquiao that some congressmen, in an apparent bid to cozy up to the Miss Universe, would now want to give her the privilege they never gave their own colleague in Congress? If some red hot congressmen really want to look good in the eyes of Pia, why don't they just pay the P4 million in taxes due her on her behalf. They can even slip her a card with their number on it, or call a press conference and tell the world of their benevolence.
Pia has wanted to be Miss Universe all her life. Now that she has become one, there is nothing in the world that can top the attainment of her ambition. Paying P4 million in taxes may take away a sizeable chunk of her winnings, but that is no longer among her worries. She is a made woman already. Doors will certainly open for her. Surely she must have expected that for her to win some, she has to lose some. Pia may not be as shallow as those pushing for the preposterous proposal.
Besides, to grant Pia the hefty tax exemptions some congressmen are proposing runs the risk of exposing her to controversy down the road. For one thing, there are several burning issues at present that dwell on economic benefits being withheld from many of Pia's own countrymen, such as the refusal of government to grant an increase in pensions for private sector retirees.
How can Pia relish her victory thinking she has been spared the burden of paying legitimate taxes while others who have to scramble to make ends meet have to pay through their noses to pay theirs. And for what reason -- that she is pretty enough to win a beauty title? Well, there are others probably just as beautiful but whose beauty may never shine through because of the sweat on their brows, the withered lines on their faces, and the burden on their backs.
There is another thing. Pia is the third Miss Universe titlist for the Philippines. Why is she the only one being exempted? Cannot the previous two winners, Gloria Diaz and Margie Moran, not be given reimbursements for the taxes they paid on their own winnings? And what about the other Misses that we have? Why don't they deserve the same privileges Pia is being proposed to be given?
Come to think of it, Gloria Diaz is more deserving of privileges because she was the first Philippine Miss Universe. She was the one who flung open the door through which Margie Moran and Pia Wurtzbach merely followed. In fact, even more than Gloria, there should be Gemma Cruz, the country's first ever Miss. Gemma might have been "only" a Miss International and not a Miss Universe, but she was the very first Filipino international beauty titlist.
Gemma Cruz proved to every Philippine beauty that followed her that it was possible for a Filipino to win a world beauty contest. She was the inspiration that made everything that came after possible. She was the embodiment of every hope and aspiration that burned in the heart of every Filipino beauty aspirant. But all these other previous Misses never thought of being exempted from anything. Honor and dignity came together for them. Hope they do as well for Pia.
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