Are you willing to pay bigger taxes for better government services

Yes, as hard as it is, trust is really hard to earn as it is really easy to lose. We need to see evidence or proof and not just mere flowery words. Indeed, the corrupt ones are just the minority that ironically have a dominant influence and power which for the honest majority are unable to compete against. That's what power gives to most people in office, you can either use that power to do good to the people who have placed you in that office or be selfish and take advantage of such opportunity as long as you are still in office. It has been like that since the Spanish colonization anyway. For everyone to be convinced, perhaps if the government would show transparency to its citizens about its transactions and operations, how the funds are collected, used, managed and so on. They are public officials so, their duties and responsibilities to the people should also be publicly known?

I guess this is one trait we Filipinos have in common. We have to see results before we trust someone. Is it really that hard to trust our fellowmen? In my opinion I still believe that their are more honest Filipinos than corrupt Filipinos. We just have to believe in that so that we can solve the problem of corruption in our country. If we could only realize that they are only the minority then we wouldn't have the mentality of "if you can't beat them join them".

Very well said! All are not impossible, in Fantasy Land. More tax would then be more temptation from the corrupt local government officials! Thank you so much for this nice response.

I really think that fighting corruption lies within us all. As citizens we should be vigilant in exposing those government officials who are corrupt. We should also sacrifice and follow rules and the law. Its one thing to say that you want change but its another thing to practice it. It just frustrate me to see people disobeying simple rules such as jaywalking and beating the red light. If we Filipinos want change we should start it with ourselves.

Well said Theresaaiza. I wouldn't mind paying 50% income tax if I wouldn't have to worry about hospital bills, retirement, crime, better public services and infrastructures, the best education for free, and a better standard of living for the majority of Filipinos. I wouldn't even mind paying 60% of my income as taxes as long as poverty is solved in our country and our standard of living is above than most of the other countries.

Solving the problem of corruption will always be up to the people. We can only solve the problem of corruption if we ourselves change our thinking. We should be keen in exposing corrupt officials through the media and use what we have at our disposal. Camera phones, the internet and the media. Quoting the slogan of TV Patrol, "Ikaw ang simula"

That is exactly what I wish would happen to our country. That is why I wouldn't mind paying a huge part of my income to tax so long as I see the benefits it has to our country and the increase of the standard of living here in the Philippines.

So if the majority government were to be more credible and honest then would you be willing to pay more taxes for more benefits from the government, better services and a higher standard of living?

I guess if I had the same bad experience with government employees and services then I would definitely have the same reaction as you chiyosan. In my experience though there are still government employees who are properly serving and doing their jobs. Although they receive a very low salary they still maintain a good and honest service to the public. We shouldn't let the few ruin the image of the whole system.

Yes I have to agree with you on that but we should also take the risk in trusting our government officials. Beside democracy is power of the people. If things won't turn out right we citizen can always change our officials so long as we don't give in to vote buying and popularity contest.

Yes, Every time I look at my payslip I always wonder what are the results of my tax but if you compare it to other countries. Our tax is relatively small compared to the taxes abroad. That is why they have so many subsidized benefits from their government.

I wouldn't agree on companies evading taxes, I still believe that there are still more companies paying the right amount of taxes then those who aren't. Maybe these companies are avoiding taxes legally but that isn't illegal. Evading is illegal and I think if taxes were to be increased then the collection of taxes should also be more stringent in order for the increase to be beneficial to the country.

Thank you for the comment. If you are aware that the US has already released some funds to help the current administration for these concerns. USA has released more than $400 Million to help the Philippines. This is the fund that the previous administration was waiting for two years ago but not granted because of trust issues. It is also indicated that some percentage will just be solely for the upgrading the Bureau of Internal Revenue. So I think that the stringent part of collecting taxes that you were referring would then be solved there. The main problem that the country will have is a strict compliance with the US rules to spend that money given to us. It should really not be put into waste because instead of helping out their fellow country men with that big amount of money, they have helped our country instead. The spending should be very transparent in order for us to see that there would be no corruption. I hope we are all aware of that help given to us. There would be no need for us to have a VAT increase by now. Thank you.

Increasing taxes is actually beneficial to the lower and working class. It would be disadvantageous to the rich since the higher your income the higher you pay for your tax. Increasing taxes is one way of spreading the wealth of the rich in the country.