Comments on: bookbug blues

By: Where to, next? | PilipinasNews.com

Where to, next? | PilipinasNews.com — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:59:02 +0000

[...] the bourgeoisie. This was clearly expressed in stuart-santiago and by caffeine_sparks in Filipino Voices, but the answer may be in [...]

By: GabbyD

GabbyD — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:56:20 +0000

angela,

thats what i was referring to with the book tax. sa book tax, its not a question of whether a tax would be good or bad. its mainly about signing an international treaty, and then ignoring it.

generally speaking, the govt can come up with tax policies that it needs/wants.

By: angela

angela — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:34:44 +0000

mlq3: i have “disdain for anything smacking of the bourgeoisie” ? not at all. that would mean having disdain for myself, which i don’t. i just wish booklovers would display the same intensity over, say, the zeppelin’s gasoline prices, or VAT. sana multi-tasking tayo. fight the book tax, yes, but not only the book tax…

By: Current » Where to, next?

Current » Where to, next? — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:54:37 +0000

[...] because of their disdain for anything smacking of the bourgeoisie. This was clearly expressed in stuart-santiago and by caffeine_sparks in Filipino Voices, but the answer may be in another portion of the same [...]

By: Where to, next? : Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose

Where to, next? : Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose — Wed, 27 May 2009 07:54:19 +0000

By: angela

angela — Tue, 26 May 2009 05:34:30 +0000

hey men ;) yes, i too wish that burgis booklovers would display the same intensity vs. VAT.

By: Men

Men — Mon, 25 May 2009 13:46:11 +0000

Good point: “because a tax on imported books simply is too lightweight and too burgis an issue to get me as mad as i already am about the scandalizingly high cost of basic goods and services e.g. food, shelter, clothing, utilities, medicines, and schooling.”

The bigger problem will emerge soon–revenue collection as a proportion of GDP is very low. And if government would not be able to solve the tax administration problem soon, it would again resort to increasing the VAT rate to avert another fiscal crisis. And I wish the “burgis” would have the same intensity they displayed in resisting the book tax in opposing an increase in the VAT rate, which would negatively affect the consumption of the poor and lower middle class..

The tax on imported books is not anti-poor, to be honest. The masa do not purchase imported books. And the rich can easily absorb the 5 percent tax when they buy different types of imported books, including those on dieting, sex, violence, ghosts, creation, Hollywood, Disneyland, and NBA. Am just being provocative here, following Angela’s line that I quoted above.