Local News: ‘2011 Bacolod Tax Code is Anti-Business’ - Vladi Gonzales

Bacolod businessman Vladimir Gonzales sent a very strong message to the City Government of Bacolod two days ago that the recently implemented Ordinance 565 s. 2011 or “2011 Bacolod Revenue Code” will cause serious damage on all efforts of the business community in making Bacolod a competitive location to invest.

The incumbent Mayor and pro-administration Councilors are all his friends and he understood that taxation is the lifeblood of government but Gonzales said, “Let us increase taxes gradually and in a staggered manner. Do not let the people swallow the whole of one big apple. They will gag or vomit. Do not kill the mother goose that lays the golden egg.”

The “golden egg” metaphor is the shooing away of investors thereby losing employment opportunities whose ability to pay income tax plus various taxes paid by an investor would be far bigger than increase taxation stipulated in this 2011 Bacolod Revenue Code.

He salutes former Congressman Monico Puentevella for his courage to “swim against the sharks” by filing a case before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against said ordinance because, “I can easily locate to a 23-hectare property in the nearest Talisay City if it means paying a much, much lower taxes.”

Puentevella likewise warned the City of investment flights as an effect of this new revenue code, while Gonzales explained actual experience in Cebu which earned P6 Billion in local taxes alone, a result of average 300 annual influx of new investments and counting until to date.

“Think of the surge in employment generated by this influx because Cebu offered all sorts of tax incentive schemes,” and Bacolod, Gonzales deplored is unable to think this way by doing the reverse of Cebu.

Bacolod New Revenue Code is clearly anathema to home grown and new investments; Gonzales is unfazed by suspicion of “politics,” saying, the implementation of new revenue code this 2012 is no longer the realm of politics because all, no exception, the entire strata of Bacolod society have to pay taxes.

He explained, businessmen strive for profit, it is not easy to shift cost to consumers, neither is it easy to relocate but left with no option dampened investors’ confidence will cause Bacolod’s unemployment to rise which is a higher social price to pay.

(Next: Vladimir Gonzales’ proposal and call to action)