Six years had past since I graduated from college and learned the difference between gross and net income. And I have also been working for six years. Whenever I would get my salary increase, it is a bittersweet moment. There is joy in the feeling that a company rewarded you for the work you’ve put in. But there is bitterness in seeing how much of your actual income is going to your taxes.
Ideally, you should feel good contributing to the country. However, with all these issues on the government’s corruption, most especially the Napoles and Senate scandal, seeing 25% of your income going to taxes, feels like you have been robbed.
It doesn’t help that the BIR has been very aggressive (and ruthless) in charging our taxes. Dear Lord, they even made a distasteful ad to drive their point.
So here’s a short and sweet open letter to the Philippine government (most especially to BIR and PNoy):
Sincerely,
Cj de Silva-Ong
Could not agree more on that distasteful and terribly-timed ad campaign.