If luxury cars are possible signs of corruption, who are most suspect?

[ghosthunter]

If luxury cars are possible signs of corruption, who are most suspect?
By Vernon B. Sarne — 20 Sep 2013

To supposedly help government increase its tax collection, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has been unleashing its attack dogs on luxury car dealers and their customers. The stories border on the absurd: from BIR agents demanding car dealers to furnish them with a list of clients, to these same taxmen conducting stakeouts at restaurants to check what the above-mentioned clients order for dinner. Even BIR commissioner Kim Henares herself has been spotted lingering around premium-car displays at high-end malls to get a feel for the kind of people these expensive automobiles attract.

Lifestyle check, they call it.

Henares and her team operate on this logic: If someone can afford a luxury car, he probably doesn't pay taxes and is thus a criminal. In the eyes of our honest government, the purchase of at least a P3-million vehicle must be a dead giveaway that the buyer has hidden and quite possibly ill-gotten riches--never mind if said buyer owns a legitimate business.

Fair enough. Maybe some of these businessmen are indeed shady. But how to explain senators and congressmen being able to afford not just one but a fleet of luxury cars? How come this isn't suspicious? Surely, BIR agents do not need to organize elaborate surveillance operations just to see if politicians are really in possession of multimillion-peso vehicles--the politicians flaunt these cars themselves for all the world to see, complete with offensive protocol plates and a convoy of power-tripping escorts.

According to the Department of Budget and Management, 23 senators will earn a total of P24,840,000 this year--or P1,080,000 per senator. (The senate president will earn slightly higher, at P1,236,000.) This means each senator is paid exactly P90,000 a month--before taxes, I presume. How in Ettore Bugatti's name can these so-called lawmakers afford BMW X6s and Lexus LXs and Mercedes-Benz S-Classes and Audi R8s and Porsche Panameras...while living in thickly walled mansions? How is this picture "normal" in the eyes of the self-appointed lifestyle-checkers?

Oh, yeah, there is a bulletproof alibi for all of this: The senators and the congressmen had already been obscenely affluent even before they entered politics, thanks to their commercial establishments and show-business careers. They merely ran for public office out of a consuming desire to serve the country. Yep, because it totally makes sense to leave a highly profitable undertaking and throw away hundreds of millions of pesos during the campaign period, for a job that pays P90,000 a month. Makes absolutely perfect sense.

I don't know which is more infuriating: That these sons of bitches so brazenly steal our money, or that they think we're so stupid we don't know what's happening.

It's all a charade. Government goes after "tax evaders" and coddles "tax thieves" at the same time. What they're trying to do, in essence, is this: Force us to pay more taxes so there is a bigger pie for the plunderers that walk among them to partake of. Who in his right mind would want to let go of his hard-earned money in this case? Which straight-thinking person would want to surrender the fruit of his labor just so the social-climbing daughters of well-connected swindlers can buy Hermès bags and Christian Louboutin shoes, and the overweening sons of venal government officials can terrorize the expressways with Ferraris and Lamborghinis?

To say Malacañang has no knowledge of all the thieving that has been taking place in the country's halls of power, is to say the conniving skills of our senators and congressmen are far more superior than those of the CIA. Noontime TV show hosts and movie action stars don't have half the IQ of a rookie agent in Langley, Virginia.

Enough with the farce. We know what's going on--now more than ever, thanks to PDAF-pocketing senators and congressmen. You want everyone to pay taxes, make sure the taxes go where they're supposed to--not to the tawdry mistresses of politicians who splurge on Thermage and whatever else beauty doctors dangle before them, in hopes they wouldn't be dropped in favor of the next pretty young thing that comes along.

Enough with the invasive lifestyle checks. You won't find the solution among luxury car buyers. You will find it in the executive, legislative and even judicial branches of government. The crooked among them are exactly why the national coffers are never sufficient--why the taxes collected can't seem to fund the projects that matter.

To reuse my own Facebook post: "Instead of conducting intrusive lifestyle checks on buyers of luxury cars, government should run after corrupt politicians. Because they're exactly the reason people don't want to pay taxes."

source If luxury cars are possible signs of corruption, who are most suspect? - All Will Drive

[111prez]

That is why the hardworking professionals, businessmen and employees do not want to pay their taxes. Yet, they are the most targeted.

Totally illogical also.

[macsd]

101% correct! Kim Henares should start with those power it may be in goverment to set examples. The ****ing problem with her is she's just after bleeding juan dela cruz.

[number001]

As the proverbial saying goes " Don't bite the hand that feeds.....".

Easier task to accomplish (and look good at the same time) by bullying those powerless in the bottom rung than to mess with those on top of the food chain.

[Retz]

ung mga ibang mayayaman na intsik makikita mo na toyota lang sasakyan nila even though they could well afford expensive european cars.

[uls]

ung mga ibang mayayaman na intsik makikita mo na toyota lang sasakyan nila even though they could well afford expensive european cars.

yep

coz impractical para sa kanila ang luxury cars

and they don't wanna attract attention

[wowiesy]

101% correct! Kim Henares should start with those power it may be in goverment to set examples. The ****ing problem with her is she's just after bleeding juan dela cruz.

I think it's only those guys in the middle class / professionals ang kaya i "bully" ng BIR..

the ones we want targeted (corrupt politicos) either:
1. pay off the BIR quietly and quickly - they scratch each other's backs na eh... tutal sa corruption din naman allegedly galing yung ipambabayad nila... ang key dito.. is quietly and quickly... para wala iskandalo..

2. BIR probably chooses not to pressure too much known big shots in politics... perhaps it's not by objective... or by official selection na rin siguro.. kung ikaw ba isang kawani sa BIR (and it is the lower to mid rank guys who come up with the actual lists sa audit program nila).. tingin mo pag super big time.. pag iinitan mo? mamaya may koneksyon pala sa itaas at baka matanggal ka.. o baka mailipat sa Basilan <?>...


In any case.. it is the middle class.. and the common juan dela cruz.. yung talagang walang kalaban laban sa mga ganitong harassment... walang pambayad ng abugado to make the proper defense... walang pambayad ng accountant to set the books straight... and walang pambayad ng staff to make the daily transactions recorded properly... ang pinaka depensa na lang ng common tao / juan dela cruz.. common businessman... is education.. and yet BIR is doing one heck of a job educating the taxpayers (who this admin call their BOSS)...

[badkuk]

ung mga ibang mayayaman na intsik makikita mo na toyota lang sasakyan nila even though they could well afford expensive european cars.

i'm not dissing the cars naman, but i see a few wealthy pinoys that are going around in L300s and Mitsu Adventures. Some people are just practical or just not that into cars, they see it as a necessity, and its maintenance an expense. For people like that you can't justify buying a car that's worth millions when one under 700k runs just fine.

i think sadyang low profile talaga yung ibang mayayaman dito...for tsinoys in particular, i think medyo nareinforce din yan back in those dark days when kidnappings were rampant(rampant pa naman ngayon pero di na exclusive na tsinoys ang target).

[Retz]

^

indeed sir karamihan din na kakilala ko low profile lang. pag tinatanong ko knug kamusta negosyo ang laging relpy sa akin eh mahina ang benta pero nakapagtayo na ng 5 storey building.

[vinj]

yep

coz impractical para sa kanila ang luxury cars

and they don't wanna attract attention

Mahal service, mahirap ibenta later on, di naman lilipad sa traffic. Usually they drive regular joe cars but perhaps may have one dream or toy car in the garage for special occassions.

I know one friggin rich guy who just has one Toyota car. Pag coding, he just lets people go to him or he'll take a cab if needed... Or borrow from his parents or siblings an extra car if really needed,.