ShareThis
July 16, 2010
“Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
(Luke 20:21-25 NIV)
In the United States of America, where Justice is blind, a crime is always a crime. No one escapes. Sofia Loren and Wesley Snipes, for example, top Hollywood celebrities were some of the few indicted for tax evasion. They paid their due. From the world of sports, in April of 1990, Pete Rose, a baseball superstar, spent five months at the medium security prison camp in Marion, Illinois. He pleaded guilty to two charges of the same crime. Al Capone, the historical crime icon, despite so many alleged murder crimes attributed to him and his gang, spent eleven years in federal prison not because of his murderous activities but because of income tax evasion. And lastly, even a legal person, someone who tried to run a seat for the US Senate during the time of President Jimmy Carter, District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne was also found guilty of tax evasion in 1984.
Although these misdeeds are not at all laudable, they highlight the efficiency and credibility of the American justice system, following the letter of a biblical passage regarding giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. In the Philippines, for whatever reason, there seems to be a disconnect from this reality, a myopic sense of justice, an existence of an insulated group of individuals, or a dismal proliferation of an incurable structure of corruption.
Lucio Tan, a 76 year old Chinese immigrant, owner of a business empire that spans from air travel (Philippine Air Lines) through social vices (Fortune Tobacco, Asia Brewery and Tanduay Holdings) and from banks (Philippine National Bank, Allied Bank) through educational institutions (University of the East), has also been indicted for tax evasion charges more than four years ago. Unlike his American counterparts, he was acquitted.
Considering the prevalence of poverty in the Philippines (with an average worker earning only about $0.65 an hour or a little bit more than $5.00 a day), the magnitude of Tan’s alleged dues (approximately $500 million dollars) as compared to the likes of Snipes ($12 million) or Rose ($350, 000), is way beyond an irrational outrage. From the economy of scales, considering the factors that affect the financial well being of so many people, any CEO or corporate magnate in the US who comes close to those figures would find it hard if not impossible to escape from the gallows. Back in the Philippines, there is a lingering fury, a sense of resentment, and a backlash of public opinion against this predicament. Half a million dollars could move hundreds of miles in a nation beset with an indigent majority. After all, with assets of more than $20 Billion dollars, Tan would probably not even feel the loss of 2.5% of his wealth reallocated back to the people through the legal conduits of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Sad to say, this is where the controversy lies. Although our tax agencies back home have done a good job in chasing celebrities and other small fry to pay their dues, there is a perception that so many within the system are still cavorting with a price tag on their heads. There is a dominant belief that a privileged few, better called an immoral group of power brokers, are better off dipping their hands in the reallocation of financial resources
through misappropriated management of taxable revenue. Their work ethic consists in the conviction that if you cannot beat them, you might as well join them. As they say, “if the corruption is systemic and beyond repair, and if everyone else is doing the same thing, then why resist?” If Tan outplayed them all and used only a fraction of his dues to bribe key individuals (e.g. alluring ten public and private authorities with let’s say a million dollars each), he could still turn out keeping the larger share and making the more important people happier. In the meantime, if he hired a public relations professional to give away dimes and pennies to charitable groups, he would still look like a national hero.
Hence, with the sentiments of “utang na loob”, and the existence of so many cases similar to this, probably at a smaller scale, how could the accusations against Tan gain traction? Mortality does not favor this billionaire. Someday, justice will catch up simply because he will not live forever. In the meantime, there are those who have suffered, those who lost their jobs, their wealth, and their dignity, fighting for justice against Tan to continue.
Anger, resentment and polarizing divisions have emerged and will persist as a result of this fiasco. Google will churn in more than a thousand entries. Facebook will entertain hundreds of comments among friends and friends of their friends. Should we really give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar? Even for Christians, paying taxes seem the right thing to do. However, if taxes is a government system that functions to reallocate wealth and ensure that a greater number of citizens benefit from a greater amount of social goods, then why does it seem illicit if private citizens personally did the same thing and transformed a public function to a private affair? In the US, it is not. The likes of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have funneled billions of dollars in private legal foundations and they enjoy billions of dollars of tax exemptions. They are aware that what they amassed is more than what they need and consume for which reason they believe that it is only natural for them to give back. In the Philippines, it seems that the largest corporate entities of mega billionaires are still centuries late in catching up with giving back to society. Just as many of my friends would say, why is it so hard for a Filipino to
give? Really?
I believe that as individuals, Filipinos are generous when provided with the right reasons. However, as a people, I think that there is still much for our nation to learn, much to decode, much to understand. See if you could help me with these questions: 1) In the US, citizens normally support political candidates with financial resources for political campaigns. In the Philippines, there is a popular norm that political candidates should share their financial resources to their constituents – before, during and after elections. Why? 2) In the US, taxpayers normally donate a certain amount to legal and recognized charitable or non for profit organizations in order to minimize their tax liabilities. In the Philippines, many charitable organizations beg for nickels and dimes from one church gathering to another without providing any tax benefits to the donor. 3) As many islands as we have, we too have countless organizations raising funds for similar ends if not exactly the same goals, segregated in different and divided efforts. There are scholarship grants, emergency funds, economic relief funds, disaster allowance, medical missions, housing project funds and other movements fragmented in semi-structured groups. Except for the likes of “Gawad Kalinga” and a few corporate foundations that actually solicit funds instead of sharing their own revenue, it seems that we have not yet completely developed large scale unifying organizations that could truly compel a more significant contribution to our people. If you know of any, please share. As it is my common practice, I again conclude with questions. It is from asking persistently that the echoes of thoughts could someday come back with a great response. Someday, someone could be the author and the instigator of real social change.
It might as well be you.