A very taxing reality

OVERTAXED. UNDERSERVED.

I saw this post by actor Carlo Aquino on the Facebook page of DAILY TRIBUNE only recently. It sparked a lot of comments online and 99 percent of social media users agreed with him.

He had shared earlier another one of his sentiments — still on taxes, real estate taxes this time. His statement read: Property tax should be abolished. Why should the people pay government for land they already own?

It’s easy to see where Carlo Aquino is coming from. At age 11, he was already being taxed. That was withholding tax for his work as a child actor in the movies Cedie, Ang TV: the Movie and Magic Temple.

Before he could even turn 18, the government slapped entertainment people with the value-added tax — on top of the withholding tax. Carlo had been paying taxes for 30 of his 41 years in life.

I really want to give him a one-man standing ovation for speaking up on the issue of taxes. But what is it they say about death and taxes being the only two absolute certainties? The great writer Daniel Defoe had already said that as early as 1726. Benjamin Franklin stated the same thing in an exchange with French physicist Jean-Baptiste LeRoy.

Since I am not from Alaska where taxes are minimal, I grew up hearing about taxes, taxes and more taxes. From my parents, I learned about “amillar,” which came from the Spanish term amillaramiento. It means tax assessment.

I was only 20 when I was asked to pay for the family home’s “amillar” or real estate tax. My parents were away a lot and it had been my chore since then to go to city hall to settle the amillar. And, oh yes, it was a chore.

Senator Francisco Tatad and his family were our next-door neighbor. His wife, Fenny — or Mrs. Tatad as I’ve always called her — briefed me on what to do at city hall. Patience. Bring a lot of patience, she always told me.

And what if I decide not to settle the real estate tax? She said that my family will end up paying penalties and, in the end, we may lose our family home. Mrs. Tatad was right.

Neglect it, lose it

Many years later, around 2008, there was this story about an extremely successful woman who built an empire anchored on show business. It was she who worked for the family. The only responsibility of her husband was to settle the yearly property tax of their house in La Vista, which had always been considered the Forbes Park of Quezon City. He neglected this one chore — for 20 years!

Unknown to the couple — to many of us, actually — there are syndicates in practically all the city halls in this country on the lookout for properties with unsettled real estate taxes. Empty lots and even those already with houses that have accumulated back taxes are auctioned off to the public. City hall insiders often tip off syndicate members about the “subasta” or auction of valuable home properties during public biddings.

One day, the La Vista house of this businesswoman from show business was put on the auction block. Poor woman. She had no idea that in a matter of time, she and her family would lose their expensive home.

That was 2008 and the total value of her house and lot was P50 million. It must now be worth more than P200M. At the end of the auction, the La Vista home was purchased for P3M — by the syndicate, no doubt.

The wife wanted to throw her husband out of their conjugal home, except that at that point, they had no more house. They just split up and rented houses separately.

Poor wife — as in really poor because she also lost even her business — decided to fight it out in court. The case had dragged on for 18 years and victory doesn’t seem to be in sight for her. But I sincerely hope she wins this battle because she is basically a nice person. She was just negligent – in paying real estate taxes.

Line up to pay

She probably should have been as assiduous as Mel Tiangco in organizing her affairs. In 1995, when we were both still with ABS-CBN, Loren Legarda (then the anchor of World Tonight) sold us units in a condominium building on behalf of her now ex-brother-in-law Conrad Leviste. Loren was also able to sell to Noli de Castro and Angelo Castro. For all those sales, Loren complained that all she got was a small refrigerator.

Mel never lived in that condo unit. She usually has it leased out. When there are no tenants, she lets visiting friends from the United States use it. That property is in order, Mel sees to that. She pays the homeowners’ association dues and settles her annual real estate taxes without fail. And so, she has peace of mind.

Mel is so organized that she goes to the city hall herself to pay her “amillar.” She would be towering over everyone else in line because, as an ex-fashion model, she is taller than the average Filipina. And yes, she would fall in line like everyone else.

Oh, those lines! Those often took the whole afternoon. Taxpayers are one in saying, “Magbabayad ka na nga, pahihirapan ka! (Here you are, willing to pay, and, yet, they make it hard for you!)

About 10 years ago, city halls put up satellite offices to shorten the lines. Did that make it easier for taxpayers? It should have — except that most of the time, the systems there are offline. And what about this? Before you are accommodated in some of these satellite offices, you are obliged to buy Christmas raffle tickets nine months away from December!

Wishful thinking

Is Carlo Aquino correct in saying that property taxes should be abolished? Yes. But that’s wishful thinking. That will never happen. The only wish of all Filipino taxpayers is for the government to put the taxes we pay to proper use — and not in the “maleta” (suitcase) of corrupt politicians.

When we buy properties, we already pay taxes. Huge taxes. And so, I agree with Carlo when he said that we should no longer pay the government for land that we already own. But how do you tell city hall that?

Times are hard — globally. But here in the Philippines, maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much to be paying taxes if — as Carlo Aquino pointed out — living conditions could improve even just a bit.

On social media, we still see a lot of video footage of towns in Pampanga submerged in floodwater. There are a lot of concrete homes — actually, beautiful residences — with water reaching all the way up to the second floor.

I can only guess that most of those nice houses were built by OFWs who spent years slaving it out abroad. And now, those homes had been rendered unusable. Are the owners of those houses still expected to pay real estate taxes?

Overtaxed. Underserviced. But in Pampanga, Bulacan and other low-lying provinces, Carlo AquIno may as well add, Underwater.