“In
this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes"
Benjamin Franklin, Letter to Jean Baptiste Le Roy, 13 Nov. 1789
In
its broadest sense, taxation is the imposition by the state by virtue of its
sovereignty, of a charge or burden either on a person, property or property
rights with the end in view of raising needed revenue for the support and
operation of government.[1]
In
Panay Electric vs. CIR and CA (G.R. No. L-10574 dated May 28, 1958), the
Supreme Court had the occasion to provide a conceptual definition of a tax, it
goes on to state that such is a forced charge, imposition or contribution; it
operates in invitum, and is no way dependent upon the will or contractual
assent, express or implied, of the person taxed.
Clearly,
the importance of tax in our daily lives is so profound and inevitable. This inevitability was evident during the ASEAN Economic Community Integration, which aimed to promote free movement of
goods, services, investments and skilled labor as well as capital flows among
ten ASEAN countries[2], and was postponed twice due to challenges encountered in implementing some of
its phases, center of these challenges is the uncoordinated and diverse tax
policies of the member countries.
Generally,
taxes are classified into direct and indirect. Direct tax is a tax for which a
taxpayer is liable on the transaction or business it engages in, without
transferring the burden to someone else. While an indirect tax is a tax wherein
the seller of goods or services may pass the amount of tax paid to the buyer,
with the seller acting merely as tax collector. In indirect taxes, the burden
of taxation falls on the immediate buyers and ultimately, the end consumers.[3] Examples
of direct taxes in the Philippines are individual and corporate income taxes,
transfer taxes and residence taxes, while one widely known example of an
indirect tax is the Value Added Tax (VAT), also known as Goods and Services Tax
in some countries.
The
author will discuss in his research paper for his legal writing class the
mechanism of adopting a single VAT Law applicable for all ASEAN countries
leveraging on the European Union (EU) Single VAT System.
At
a minimum, the author will cover the following relevant aspects on his research
paper:
- Background of EU VAT System
- Success factors of ASEAN Customs Policy Integration
- Business tax laws of all ASEAN countries
- Adaptability of ASEAN business tax laws viz-a-viz EU VAT Law
- Harmonizing the business tax provisions of all ASEAN countries
- ASEAN VAT Law framework
The
success of the European Union has been one of the inspiration for the
establishment of a one ASEAN Economic Community. To achieve the final goal of
economic integration, all ten ASEAN countries should make this one big leap of
harmonizing tax laws. The author will try to synthesize how this one big leap should be done without less adverse effect on the lives of the people of these ten ASEAN countries.
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