APRIL can be the worst month for the taxpayer. Withholding tax on the tenth, income tax on the 15th, second quarter business permit on the 20th, first quarter VAT on the 25th. If this were an election year, then he will be more careful in choosing the candidates he’s willing to pay his taxes to.
Yeah, taxes are not paid directly to the politician. The taxpayer knows that. But he also knows that somehow his taxes will eventually end up in a politician’s Hermes wallet which has learned to call up regional directors whenever it’s empty.
The best careers now are that of showbiz celebrities, social media influencers, and politicians. Anyone who can be all that and more is the wealthiest human being in the universe. He can now afford to live on Mars, where he belongs—anywhere but here.
Still, it’s better to believe that the taxes here in Pinas are used for the country’s—and not the politician’s—progress. Otherwise, life here will be miserable. The Pinoy will always be angry if he continues to suspect that the government is using, misusing, and abusing the national treasury.
If you see a politician wearing a Hermes belt to make his huge tummy palatable, close your eyes and focus on his cute and sweet smile instead. Because that belt doesn’t prove he’s corrupt. He has other sources of income which began bearing fruit before he became a politician. He joined politics to serve the country, and not for some selfish reason that other political candidates may have in their greedy hearts.
Here’s a saying that Rev. Fr. Jonathan D. Rubin quoted during the Lenten Recollection at Venerable Teofilo Camomot’s St. Teresa Chapel:
“If our thoughts deceive, our hearts don’t.”
A greedy heart will be justified by the thought that you deserve the illegal wealth you’ve amassed as a politician. Is that how graft and corruption start?
But illegal wealth will eventually disappear. It has bad vibes that it will carry wherever it goes. It’s not the nature of easy money to stay put. It will want to prove that it has arrived as it craves recognition and acknowledgment. It doesn’t want to hide, and social media is ready to prove how that money is spent.
A brilliant auditor is a corrupt politician’s worst enemy. That auditor simply has to check the politician’s social media accounts. But if the politician is former Sen. Manny Pacquiao, a lifestyle check can be challenging, thanks to his boxing career which has given him and his family the highest definition of luxury living, so that his wife Jinkee now goes malling in a casual outfit of the day that costs at least P2.7 million. That’s casual to her. Should make you wonder about her formal outfits.
And it’s not only Jinkee. Alice Eduardo, Small Laude, Vicki Belo, Marian Rivera, and Sharon Cuneta also belong to this group of ladies who love luxury items because they can afford them. They’re living within their means.
One can’t buy class, though. The old rich can easily spot the nouveau riche. But the old rich have learned that the Bureau of Internal Revenue is always watching, so, like gossip, wealth also requires the art of dramatic silence.
