ROXAS TO EXECUTIVE: SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE ON OIL VAT ALTERNATIVES

Senator Mar Roxas urged the administration to speak with one voice and present to the people a detailed and unified proposal to replace the 12% VAT on oil with softer taxes, such as an excise or specific tax, so that a thorough debate can commence once Congress resumes its sessions.

"The expanded VAT may have worked before in padding our fiscal deficit. But times and circumstances have drastically been altered. Only fools don't change tack when times change," he stressed.

"Crude oil then was $35 a barrel, now it's $140 and rising. If 'business-as-usual' worked before, now it doesn't. Before it meant 'fiscal reform,' now it means government riding piggyback on the financial burdens faced by all consumers," Roxas pointed out.

The Liberal Party President said the public is also confused because of the different statements issued by her economic advisers and managers regarding the VAT on oil. In response to administration statements that the VAT has been effectively used to cushion the impact of global oil and food prices on the poor, Roxas declared, "Let our people be the judge of that."

Roxas reiterated his proposal for the government to suspend big-ticket capital expenditures because these have relatively higher leakages, and lesser chances for employment generation. Instead, maintenance of existing projects�such as the repair and maintenance of roads, irrigation facilities, and schoolbuildings �should be accelerated, as these generate more employment.

Also, it must consider suspending expenditures that tend to be politicized or are "pork barrel-type," such as the road users' tax and the Kilos Asenso Fund, and realign funds to augment genuine food-for-work, food-for-school or conditional cash transfer.

"What we need to hear right now is a clear and well-thought out alternative to pinning all our hopes for tomorrow on VAT on oil," he said.