MANILA, Philippines--United Opposition (UNO) vice presidential candidate Jejomar C. Binay has criticized Sen. Mar Roxas for insisting that there was nothing wrong with the imposition of the Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT) on basic commodities.

?I cannot understand how anyone can defend the EVAT when it has become the biggest burden on the poor,? Binay said in a statement emailed Tuesday to the inquirer.net.

Binay said the Arroyo administration pressed for the approval of the EVAT law in 2005 to reduce the national government?s budget deficit, which was beginning to balloon. The EVAT law increased the value added tax from 10 per cent to 12 per cent, and expanded its coverage to include food and other basic necessities.

?EVAT made basic goods like instant noodles and medicine very expensive to the poor. And that is what I find oppressive. Why did the national government pass its financial burden to the poor?? he said.

?EVAT is a tax on purchases. If you are rich, you are taxed 12 per cent. If you are poor, you are still taxed 12 per cent,? he said.

Binay said even the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were against the imposition of EVAT because of its impact on the poor.

Citing studies conducted by the Ibon Foundation in 2008, Binay said the poor and the working class, and not the privileged, are the ones who bear the brunt of EVAT.

?It is an indirect tax that disregards the income level of those who shoulder it. Worse, it is imposed on practically all the basic goods and services that families consume every day. The law allows businesses to pass on the burden of paying EVAT to consumers even when there is value added to it,? Binay said.

As a result, Binay said workers in Metro Manila, whose minimum wage is p350 a day, have less money to spend.

?After deductions for withholding tax, Social Security and Pag-Ibig, another 12 per cent is deducted in EVAT from a worker every time he buys anything,? he said.

But Binay said Metro Manila workers are still fortunate because their minimum wage is p350 a day. Workers in the provinces earn as low as p200 a day; agricultural workers earn only p170 a day.

?The opposition leader added that EVAT oppresses even the jobless. ?We have some
10 million jobless workers but they are not spared from the 12 per cent EVAT on anything they buy,? he said.

Roxas told a TV news program that he sees nothing wrong with imposing taxes as long as taxes do not end up in the pockets of public officials and are used for the welfare of the people.

Binay said he has no quarrel with the principle, but draws the line on burdening the poor.

?When Senator Roxas voted for EVAT in 2005, was he so naive that he thought the proceeds will not be pocketed by corrupt national officials? I agree that there is nothing wrong in imposing taxes, but only on those who earn. The bad thing about EVAT is that it taxes even those who do not earn,? he said.

The EVAT, Binay said, ?only enlarged the pie for grafters to slice.?