Sunday, October 9, 2011

Assessment of the Suitability of the RP Gov't Decision to Collect VAT on Toll

The Aquino administration would comply with whatever decision the Supreme Court (SC) might render over the value added tax (VAT) on expressway toll, a Palace official said yesterday.

“Whatever the decision of the SC, we will respect and we will only implement the decision,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said, in reaction to the latest petition filed at the SC seeking the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO).

He said that this is a second case against the VAT on toll and the judiciary could decide whichever way it wants to after the Court had previously ruled in a unanimous 13-0 verdict that upheld the government’s authority to collect VAT on toll.

“We leave it with the SC. So again, we are just implementing a decision of the SC and it’s up to them whether they want to change their decision on the matter or maintain their previous position,” Lacierda said.

The previous SC ruling has been rendered final and executory.

“Our obligation is to enforce the law. Kung walang (if there’s no) TRO, we will continue imposing that VAT. Kung may TRO naman (but if there’s TRO), of course, we will certainly respect the TRO of the SC.”

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) started collecting the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) on toll fees last Oct. 1 despite the pending appeal on its imposition.

In July, the SC ruled on the legality of VAT on toll fees. In the same ruling, the Court lifted the TRO it issued on Aug. 13 last year on the imposition of the tax.

It also upheld the power of the executive branch to impose VAT on franchise grantees like tollway operators.

Meanwhile, another group has joined the bid to convince the SC to reconsider its ruling.

In a petition for intervention, concerned citizens calling themselves as Taxpayers’ Unity vs. Toll Hike in the South Luzon Expressway (Tutol-SLEX) reiterated the argument that the new measure is a form of “double taxation.”

They cited Article VI Section 28 of the Constitution, which states that, “the rule of taxation shall be uniform and equitable. The Congress shall evolve a progressive system of taxation.”

Petitioners said this means the burden of taxation should be on those who are better able to pay, not on the general public.

“Regressive taxes like the VAT on toll will only worsen the poverty and suffering of our kababayans. The VAT on toll will make the burden of a lack of a significant wage hike and soaring prices of basic commodities and services even heavier,” the group lamented.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Economic growth theories

Now, we will take a look at growth theories and how they have evolved. There are basically three economic growth theories that currently have believers.

First, the classical growth theory links population growth to the productivity of labor. Neoclassical growth advocates believe that real GDP growth is primarily a function of technology breakthroughs.

Finally, the new growth theory states that while technology is the main driver of productivity increases, there are barriers that prevent the standard of living in countries from equalizing.

Classical Growth Theory

This is the oldest theory of the three. It basically states that the economy has a subsistence level that it will revert to whenever productivity increases. If there is a technological breakthrough that brings the productivity of workers up across the nation, then the population will simply expand until the productivity reverts to the previous level.

The conclusions you can draw from this theory are relatively straight forward. The long run equilibriums or real GDP per capita and growth rate of real GDP per capita are both zero. This means that any deviations from the real levels of these two measures are temporary.

Neoclassical Growth Theory

This is a more modern approach to growth theory. Two forces come into play in this theory. Concerning the population, as incomes rise the opportunity cost of birthing children increases. This is because of the time associated with raising children, maternity leave, and other factors.

Also, as incomes rise, the standard of living and life expectancy follows suit. These two conflicting forces offset one another, and therefore, it is hypothesized that economic growth has no effect on population growth.

Therefore, there must be another factor that can make a difference in the growth of productivity. Technology is the factor that this theory chooses as the driving force behind productivity growth. This makes sense, since technological advances can be credited with huge increases in productivity.

Just think of what happened when light bulbs, steam engines and automobiles were invented. These all provided huge returns and increases in productivity. The computer, however, has not had the expected impact on productivity – yet. Sometimes it takes awhile for a change in technology to change the way people work.
There is one final aspect of the neoclassical growth theory involving standard of living. It postulates that as countries gain access to the same technologies, their standard of living will converge.

New Growth Theory

As you recall from the neoclassical growth theory, the theory predicts that standards of living will converge as countries gain access to the same technologies. However, this does not hold true in practice. Countries maintain their impoverished status despite apparently having access to the same technologies that wealthy countries do. The new growth theory attempts to explain this discrepancy.

The new growth theory explains this by including motivation factors in the economic model. Basically, the theory suggests that the more motivation there is for people to pursue innovative ideas, the more creativity will be fostered. This is directly related to the rate of technological advancement. Although breakthroughs appear to be random, they are actually related to how much capital is allocated to providing incentive to innovate.

When he's not playing racquetball or studying for a class, Clayton Reeves enjoys writing articles about entrepreneurship. He is currently an MBA student at the University of Missouri with a concentration in Economics and Finance.

 -----JVA-----

Sunday, August 28, 2011

RP National Income Acts



PER CAPITA: GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, GROSS NATIONAL 
PRODUCT, and PERSONAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE
Annual 2008 and 2009
AT CURRENT AND CONSTANT 1985 PRICES, IN PESOS
 
* - 2000 Based Population Projections, National Statistics Office
Source: National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)

PER CAPITA: GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT, GROSS NATIONAL 
PRODUCT, and PERSONAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE
Annual 2009 and 2010
AT CURRENT AND CONSTANT 1985 PRICES, IN PESOS
* - 2000 Based Population Projections, National Statistics Office
Source: National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) 
Source: National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)
What is GNP?
Gross National Product (GNP) is the market value of all products and services produced in one year by labor and property supplied by the residents of a country. Unlike Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which defines production based on the geographical location of production, GNP allocates production based on ownership.

GNP does not distinguish between qualitative improvements in the state of the technical arts (e.g., increasing computer processing speeds), and quantitative increases in goods (e.g., number of computers produced), and considers both to be forms of "economic growth".

What is GDP?
Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given period. GDP per capita is often considered an indicator of a country's standard of living.

GNP vs. GDP
Gross National Product (GNP) is often contrasted with Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While GNP measures the output generated by a country's enterprises - whether physically located domestically or abroad - GDP measures the total output produced within a country's borders - whether produced by that country's own firms or not.

When a country's capital or labor resources are employed outside its borders, or when a foreign firm is operating in its territory, GDP and GNP can produce different measures of total output.
-----JVA-----

Sunday, August 14, 2011

US Economic Crises

Actually the strength of bid for govt debt even in countries like the Us and UK given their current poor fiscal position is very worrying because of what it really signals.

It is signalling that a great deal of the world from individuals to companies and now to countries have become very risk averse to the degree where capital preservation is completely overshadowing the issue of return on capital.The big problem with this mindset is what it bodes for any increase in investment and expansion without which job growth is going to struggle.

This appears to be a backlash from 2008 that is simply creating a very poor macro economic picture. These markets are being supported by the big banks and the Fed to generate confidence but the numbers don't lie. Within ten years your $1,000 bond will be worth $404 at present inflation rates. In that time you will have collected a total of $214 not adjusted for inflation. Inflation is only 11.5% if a) your lone economist is right and b) if you're in the USA. On the whole it's institutions who are buying US bonds in order to diversify their risk. The yield isn't that important in a time of recession when investing in companies is high risk.

As for gold and silver, yes they could rise rapidly. However if the world economies settle down and we have a time of low growth and no shocks their prices will plumit.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Less money in Uncle Sam's pocket?


United States of America known as one of the powerful country in the world is said to be in its crucial situation. With this stocks hitting down it really affects not only America but also the other countries. Uncle Sams currency is weakening, causing a doubt for investors to put their golds in an unsure hit or situation; and because of this its like a virus that will affect the system. Like the massive rate of lost in employment from middle class down to bottom. Eased concerns that the economy was heading back into recession as feared by investors, and buoyed U.S. stocks. As we look back starting the year of 2000 we have seen that the Americans are so found of using credit line resulting to this years that this debts are putting Uncle Sam’s money to nowhere; like a trash being thrown in the garbage.

Why are we experiencing this? Actually reading the news and seeing this on t.v, If America is experiencing this economic crisis other countries will also encounter this situations and worst it will hit poor countries in a massive pace. If this so will continue to happen; worst poverty is with-in reach and gaining back the lost wealth is a sweat to perspire double time. Can we site some reason why this things happened? From the war to the debts and the prize hikes are some results of economic downfall.


_ANN_

Sunday, July 31, 2011

PNoy's second SONA


"Let us stop pulling our fellow man down. Let us put an end to our crab mentality. Let us make the effort to recognize the good that is being done."

"Let us end the culture of negativism; let us uplift our fellow Filipinos at every opportunity."

"If you see something right, do not think twice—praise it."

For me this is the best part Pnoy had said in his SONA. Not the " wangwang" thing which it was almost the center of his speech. Although the wangwang did help a lot in the society most specially in roads it lessen of giving VIP treatment to the authorities and to the traffic violators but still this is not the real problem of our society. There are a lot of things that should be observe and do something to solve the problem. There are also some issues that he didn't talked about like the RH BILL and the DIVORCE BILL and he didn't even shared his plan for the next five years and we are all clueless.

But as a whole it wasn't bad at all. He used our own language and stood up in front of many Filipino people with confidence. In his statement we have heard that there is a progress in our country and we couldn't question that because we also can see through our own eyes.

It is a great start for PNoy and I hope that he could continue and do his promises he had made to us. And I know he could not do this alone that's why we Filipino citizens should also do our part to help our country to have a better society and it will only happens if we ourselves knows what to do and choose the right thing.

-DEA

P-Noy 2nd SONA

President Benigno " Noynoy" Aquino III has deliver his second SONA last  July 25, 2011 at the Batasang Pambansa.

President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III seemed to have pleased the audience of his second State of the Nation Address, as he received more applause than he did last year.

He received the longest round of applause when he said, “Malinaw ang pahiwatig natin ngayon sa buong mundo: Ang sa Pilipinas ay sa Pilipinas.”

He added that the Philippines is ready to defend what really belongs to the country and that the government is considering to bring the case of the West Philippine Sea to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

The newly appointed Ombudsman former Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales was also lauded by the audience.

“Inaasahan ko nga po na sa taon na ito, masasampahan na ng kaso ang lahat ng nagkuntsabahan sa katiwalian, at naging sanhi ng situwasyong ating inabutan,” Aquino said.

Aquino received loud reactions from the crowd when he disclosed that PAGCOR spent one billion pesos on coffee which amounted to 10 million cups of coffee in a year.

Baka po kahit ngayong iba na ang pamunuan ng PAGCOR ay dilat na dilat pa rin ang mata ng mga uminom ng kapeng ito. Hanapin nga po natin sila, at matanong: nakakatulog pa po ba kayo,” the president said, inserting sense of humor in his speech.


Im quite satisfied for his accomplishment for a one year in service.President Noynoy Aquino refers “wang-wang” as graft and corruption, abuse of power, and other illegal activities of some government officials and even from the private sector.

“Midnight bonuses” at some government corporations, his discovery of PCSO’s billion-peso worth of coffee expenditure during the past term, the multi-million peso unliquidated cash-advances within DPWH, which now incumbent Secretary Singson is running after, along with a string of other anomalies; and the alleged rigging of the 2004 Presidential elections in ARMM, which his administration now actively investigates represent his will to reform the corrupt government he was handed down with.

Hope he will continue to serve the Filipino people with honesty and integrity.

PNoy's SONA 2011


July 25, 2011 (Monday), the day when President Benigno Aquino III delivered his 2nd State of the Nation Address (SONA). It was my first time to hear a president using Filipino language for the entire speech because our previous presidents normally use English language. I think that means Pnoy’s SONA is exclusively for the Filipino and not a means to impress anyone in other countries. I personally admired him for that.



As usual, Pnoy started and repeatedly mention his favorite word wang wang and utak wang wang in his speech. He reminded us on what he promised during his inauguration, which is the removal of corruption in our country. I hope that corruption can take away by Pnoy even though i know that it was so hard. I'll support you for that. And Of course, he mentioned the accomplishments done within the year like the self-rated hunger has gone down from 20.5% in March to 15.1% this June—equivalent to a million Filipino families who used to go hunger, an estimated yearly shortage of 1.3 million metric tons is down to 660,000, a 15.6 percent increase in rice production, lesser cases of car and motorcycle theft, lower unemployment rate and there is a new road that was built in Barangay Bagumbayan in Sta. Maria, Laguna,  clean water that residents in Barangay Poblacion in Ferrol, Romblon are now enjoying  and others.

Yes, Pnoy mentioned a lot of accomplishments and comparison  from the former presidents, but there are things that Pnoy didn’t mention like about his opinion about RH bill, if he is going to support it or not.

Reflecting on his SONA, I believe that it’s about time for us to do our part, we should have to be cooperative and discipline, stop saying that there’s still no progression or slow progression, what I can say is wait. A thousand miles of journey starts with a single step. It’s only been one year, there are still 5 years to come, I know there are so many things will happen within those years, just be patient. Remember that Pnoy is human not a god, he can’t just snap and things will happen like a magic. Being a president comes with big responsibility, a single mistake will make a large effect. It’s harder than any other jobs. I hope that he will keep and make his promises come true! Let’s just believe in him and to his words.


-----JVA-----

Sunday, July 10, 2011

An Evaluation on the Economic Programs of Aquino Administration

Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”
Mr. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino
It has been a year since Mr. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino assumed the post of presidency. His encouraging slogan “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” simply caught the interest of voters. The president is seen as a man of good intentions and the one who tries to make things right for the country. And now, let’s relate this catchphrase with the economic reforms and economic situation of the Philippines, a year after the he has taken the post.

Forwarding to the economic reforms of the new administration, he started it by cleaning the corrupt agencies. From there, he will start his “daang matuwid (straight path)” towards the success of the country. Mr. Aquino promised to crack down two things; Tax Evasion and Smuggling. In a year term of the new administration, he was able to increase the tax collection without imposing new taxes. Mr. Aquino visualizes a country where taxes are lower and where markets are free to encourage entrepreneurs and enterprises to invest for jobs to be created. The president together with his team wants to make a big leap by shifting the country from being a poor one into a middle class country. 
 
 
As Mr. Aquino once said: My vision is to transform our country into one where we have lower tax rates enjoyed by all, rather than have some enjoy absolute tax exemptions while we burden the rest of the economy with very high tax rates. I believe that markets are better than government in spotting where the growth opportunities are, and, with universal low tax rates, we will encourage entrepreneurs and enterprises to invest and create jobs in any industry. We will therefore, pursue the rationalization of fiscal incentives early in my administration.”

Hand in hand with customs, the new administration is bound to eradicate the industry of smuggling. With this, any amount going to corruption may be used for government projects and can be used in the betterment of the country.

After a Year of Presidency


"I had a simple goal in life: to be true to my parents and our country as an honorable son, a caring brother, and a good citizen." - President Benigno Aquino III

May 10, 2010 has been a colorful election but the gleamy yellow color came to be the shade of the nation after that day. we began ato take the daang matuwid, and then realized we're in the middle of a heavy road traffic.
 
A year had passed after NoyNoy became the president. We're hearing people saying , "wala namang pagbabago", "nabawasan ang korapsyon", "mas humirap si juan."but before posting a comment again, let's have a recap on his first year...
 
Remember his inaugural address? "I will dedicate my life to making our democracy reach it's fullest potential: that of ensuring equality for all." "We are here to serve and not to lord over you." and the defining principle that will serve as the foundation of his administration, "If no one is corrupt, no one will be poor." how positive.. 

Who will forget the bus hostage tragedy at Quirino Grandstand, Manila? This badly gripped crime ended with eight Hong Kong tourists killed in the hands of a former Filipino police officer hijacker, then trailed by several travel bans to the Philippines, fierce sessions at the senate and a greatly mortified Juan Dela Cruz. This is a big and the first problem slammed to Mr. Aquino. Then a lot of problems followed, different storm tragedies, poverty, oil price hike, etc. 
 
And now the question is, where is the road map to change?
if we will identify his positive side, it would be that first for any president in the Philippines that he supports the RH Bill. Second, he appointed competent people that could help him. Next, He is honest, transparent, and untainted with corruption. lastly, his sisters who act as "1st lady" are active in social work and other community service.

 
Let's shift to the negative side, though he is supportive of the RH Bill, he has not prioritized it. Second, he needs to be more decisive and assertive. If he appointed incompetent and corrupt friends in government. He needs to listen to the people, give us updates on what he is doing about them.
 
If we would rate Mr. President, it would be 75%, maybe he can do better in 5 years. Passing mark only because of his good traits that can be used to his advantage to become a more effective leader. We can only hope his performance improves.
 
Well, amid this mentioning, there is certainly a deafening call for the country to undergo reformation in its major aspects: the issue on acquiring change has been a long term goal of every entity but things are just leading towards the worse scenarios. This is because nearly everyone never leans: we really don't know how to discern the sense of social responsibility. In effect, we are now not fearing to experience the end of our life but fearing every tomorrow that is given to us.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Importance of Economics in Business Education


Most of the college students are required to take up the subject economics before they graduate. Some students question the importance of economics and the reason why do they have to study this subject. Well, before discussing about that, let’s first know what economics is all about.

Economics is about choice and decision making. Choosing your course in college or your occupation is the most important economic decision you will make. Economics will help you to decide how much to save, spend and invest once you have earned money. It is also about developing analytical and critical thinking. It is not about memorizing all the things you have read in books about economics.


What makes economics important?

      Economics as a part of the curriculum subjects to those students who take courses like Business and Accountancy will help them on how to understand and be knowledgeable to determine the changes of the economic growth. This will also provide them with the best preparation or help them to prepare for employment in business, government, or secondary education for the mere future.


A business student should understand that many businesses are at the mercy of general economic conditions. They are making so much decision like for example: what goods and services to produce, how to produce them and in what quantities.

According to Georgia State University,
Studying economics can teach strong skills that will benefit an individual in a variety of jobs. Among these skills are the ability to: perform proper analysis and critical thinking; understand quantitative theory; and develop better communication.

By studying economics, a student will:

  • develop a liberal and broad economic outlook, where he critically examines statistics issued by government agencies and acquires knowledge about price, production, consumption etc. of goods produced all over the world.
  • understand how the business world functions.
  • have a better understanding of how resources should be efficiently allocated to various people and countries.
  • know how important budgeting is and to manage money well.
  • understand individual economic decisions, as well as developments in business, government, and the world economy.
  • become a more knowledgeable participant in the political process
  • learn a lot of skills and knowledge that he can apply to other jobs or to personal life. Learning about demand and supply, interest rates and exchange rates, and etc. can help make better decisions about investing and obtaining mortgages.
Studying Economics is important not only by the student taking up business courses but to all people belongs to the society. It helps everyone to make a choice and choose for what is right and able to help us to have a better life and use alternative resources due to the scarce of our resources we need to our daily life. We can never tell what will be going in future, that's why economics should be studied and must introduce to every individual in the society.
 
-----JVA-----