ONE of the government processes where we found that red tape and corruption could occur in the history of any government is in our tax system. While I hold the established laws in high regard, I also believe that our rules and regulations should be subjected to constant review to see if they are still applicable to the current time. My personal view is that a lot of our current problems on taxation would be solved with the imposition of a flat tax system.

The biggest problem with our current progressive tax system is the collection of taxes. Those who do not pay their taxes on time range from those who simply cannot afford to do so to those who can afford evading tax payments by hiding their wealth with the help of lawyers and accountants. Because of this, the government imposed a 12-percent value added tax (VAT), the tax collected from consumption. But even with this, collection of income tax remained a problem. This resulted in us Filipinos being taxed before and after getting our income. Our purchasing power became overtaxed.