The clattering TRAIN

Who is in charge of the clattering train? The axles creak and the couplings strain… For the pace is hot and the points are near, and sleep has deadened the driver’s ear; And the signals flash through the night in vain. Death is in charge of the clattering train!”

Winston Churchill utilized these bleak first few and last few lines from Edward Milliken’s poem “Death and his brother sleep” to underscore his frustration with the British government’s appeasement of Germany during the second world war.

This clever use of metaphor to highlight societal inaction is just as timely now. We wouldn’t go as far, though, as comparing President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRRD) to a driver asleep at the wheel. Au contraire, he has been a driver of unprecedented growth. According to the World Bank, the Philippines was the world’s 10th fastest growing economy in 2017.

But society remains stuck in a stupor in the face of certain actionable realities. Our own appeasement of China. Extra judicial killings and the marginalization of human rights. The assaults on checks and balances. The coddling of sacred cows. There is no appreciable hue and cry calling for a stop. Prosperity may have otherwise inured us to the insufferable.

We actually have our own version of the clattering train and it ain’t a metaphor.  We have the MRT. Senator Grace Poe has already warned the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to prepare for alternative mass transport as the MRT really needs to be shut down for urgent repair.

And then there is TRAIN, our Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, which is picking up  good and bad news as it leaves the station. For this week, lets focus on a few random cabins.

Good news, bad news. Hands down, the biggest news is the historic lowering and simplification of income tax rates of individual taxpayers. Senate ways and means committee chair and workhorse Sonny Angara refers to it as the greatest income tax relief ever given to workers. With lesser tax to pay, the good news is that there is more to spend, spend, spend. This is also the bad news. With the increase in spending power comes heightened demand for goods and services. Economic growth may also result in inflation and higher prices, offsetting the larger take home pay. Rise, rise, rise?

Sweet tooth levy. The tax on sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) is as much a health measure as it is a revenue measure. Poor health affects productivity, after all. Lets hope that the higher cost changes our eating habits so that our legislators’ Samaritan kindness won’t be for naught.

The bad news is that the tax may sound the death knell for the industry as reduced demand may lead to the closure of businesses and job losses. This is also an instance of taxing the lower income brackets who, as its heaviest consumers, bear the brunt of the taxes on SSBs. This makes it a regressive tax contravening the Constitutional provision providing for an equitable and progressive tax system.

Oil strike. Once again, more than just a revenue source, the increased excise tax on fuel is seen as government going green. It is disincentive to the consumption of a scarce fossil fuel and intended to reduce the ill effects of its use. The current excise tax rate is also not adjusted for inflation.

The downside is already evident in the pending petitions for fare hikes, oil price hikes, commodity price spikes. We are also seeing opportunism and price gouging rearing its ugly head as fuel inventories purchased pre TRAIN are being passed off at the higher post TRAIN rates.

Striking gold. The excise tax on minerals has been increased from 2 to 4%. This is a far cry from the higher excise tax rates in other countries which reach up to 10%. Veteran Albay Congressman and resident economics guru of the House, Rep. Joey Salceda wants that 10%. If President Duterte would have his way, he’d totally end the practice of extracting our minerals only to be sold back as finished products at treble cost.  We look forward to TRAIN 5A which promises to rationalize the entire mineral industry’s taxing regime last updated in 1994. This is good news all the way. No bad news.

No silence of the lambs. If the President hates drugs most, it appears that he hates foreign travel for his minions next most. Maritime Industry Authority Administrator Marcial Amaro III is just the latest piece of meat laid at the President’s chopping board. This is fresh on the heels of the Ridon, Santiago and Cruz sackings, all measured on the same yardstick of imprudent foreign travel.

To be sure, there are no allegations of irregularity. The trips taken by these President’s men were all official. In fact, in Amaro’s case, it seems that the needed authority to travel was issued in due course for all his trips by no less than DOTr Secretary Art Tugade. But, there you have it. The administration’s policy is, official trip or not, keep it down to a minimum.

Road rage. We have heard of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) studies quantifying the daily loss (billions) to the economy from Metro Manila’s horrendous traffic. But have they accounted for the cost in terms of sanity? Day after day we are seeing ordinary Pinoys mutating into beasts in the course of their commutes. I myself witnessed last week how a matronly housewife alit from her soccer mom SUV to recklessly confront an inconsiderate motorist. Its not so much the behavior of the offending drivers that surprises but the progressively shortening fuses of those who follow traffic rules and end up paying a price for it. Another argument for the urgent passage of the Traffic Crisis Act.