NU12#1 - Pay your taxes, Elect you representative.by Ed Vargas

Pay your taxes, Elect you representative.

The buzz word today is the "pork barrel scandal" and thousands of Filipinos vent their anger against the alleged pork barrel scammer Janet  Lim Napoles and her cohorts in in congress; the honorable senators and congressmen, in the Million People March to Luneta last August 26, 2013.

But what really is the root cause of all these corruptions in government.  I believe that we failed to elect the right people in government. Instead of electing people that would put the interest of the people above all, we elected people that would raid the public coffers for their own selfish interest. These politicians perpetuate themselves in power through patronage politics. While the constitution prescribed term limits, these wily politicians circumvent it by having their immediate families or relatives run for the position and now what we have are political dynasties. This vicious cycle is mainly perpetuated by the culture of patronage politics and enabled by the pork barrel system. So I maintain that we should abolish pork barrel in all it forms whether in the executive, legislative and the judiciary.

But my main thesis for this paper is how we elect good men and women that would put their intelligence, wisdom and talent in the service of the Filipino people.  Our present electoral system provides for direct voting and in an ideal world is the most democratic. But given our present state of affairs, the vote of the educated is just equivalent to the votes of the uneducated which unfortunately comprises the majority and are vulnerable to corruption, vote-buying and patronage politics. These are people being exploited by politicians such that they continue to be poor and beholden to them so they can continue to be elected.

There were already several proposals for electoral reforms and one senator even proposed that only taxpayers should be eligible to vote. Since it is our taxes that are being raided then its just right that we taxpayers have a say on whose going to represent us and if we elected a crook then nobody would be blamed but us. However, such proposal, some would argue to be undemocratic and anti-poor and I agree. Besides, all of us are tax payers; employed or not you pay taxes in the form of VAT.

I still maintain that everybody should still have the right to vote but I propose that individual votes should be weighted according to tax rate applicable to your taxable income.  For example, if you're not paying taxes because you're either unemployed or just a minimum wage earner, then your vote will have weight of 12% (representing VAT for purchases).  Those paying taxes will have an equivalent weight of 12% (for VAT) plus the applicable income tax rate say 30%.

I believe this would still be democratic and truly representative of each individual contribution and stake to our government since it ceases to exist without taxes. This system would encourage the individual to strive to go up the ladder economically and financially if he wants to have a better say on who he wants to elect as his representative. It would also improve tax collection as the weight of your vote depends on the taxes you pay. If you pay less either  by tax avoidance or tax evasion then you got what you deserved. 

Therefore, by abolishing "pork barrel" we ensure that we elect men and women whose only motivation is really public service and electoral reforms where individual vote is weighted according to the taxes you pay would truly be representative democracy.  4

By Ed Vargas  4