The Wheel and Axle

Comedian Cosplays Senator and Businessman

by on Aug.04, 2016, under Society

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Recently, a comedian pretending to be a senator and who shall remain nameless is now pretending to be a businessman, too. He filed a bill would require employers to give 14th month pay on top of existing 13th month obligations.

As with anything that this moron does, there is a lack of intellectual thought and foresight in his output. This is not surprising as he learned business and economics in Iskul Bukol.

Yes, as an employee, I would be very happy to get another full month’s pay. In fact, we used to have it as an incentive in one of my former companies until they scrapped it.

The question is: why did they scrap it?

The obvious answer: cost.

Now, if a big and well-established international company like the one I was with thought the cost was not worth the benefits of the incentive, what more when it comes to small and medium enterprises (SMEs)?

The reality is that forcing businesses to cough up 14th month payouts to its employees is not a friendly move – especially not to SMEs. In fact, you risk killing SMEs and struggling start-ups. The result could be an increase in monopolies and cartels that already thrive as it is.

Even big businesses will not be spared of such a huge risk. Foreign investors, for one, will think twice about the additional cost of doing business here, especially not when other ASEAN nations and India can provide labor arbitrage at typically lower costs. This can mean loss of further job opportunities for our people.

Moreover, where does the rape-supporting, senator-cosplayer think that money will come from? Most businesses, as they almost always do, will likely pass that cost on to consumers by increasing prices of their products and services. The purpose of the 14th month pay will be defeated because we’ll only use it to cover the price increases of our normal purchases.

The solution to the income issue of people is not to give additional bonuses for work that technically they did not render (there are performance incentives in many cases to reward exemplary output).

The solution is to lower the staggering taxes, thereby increasing our take-home pay.

Oh, and please don’t give us the steaming pile of bull that reducing taxes will impact government funding and budget. We all know a bulk of taxes are simply being plundered. Additionally, run after big time tax evaders. Simply put, get corruption fixed by improving the BIR audit system, and more than enough money for government services will be there even if taxes are reduced.

The 14th month pay can be optional for companies that can afford to do so, and a few are already providing this.

However, do not make it mandatory for everyone, especially not upon SMEs. You might have a nice 14th month pay once or twice, but what good is that if your company closes down and you lose your job permanently?

One of them is now a waste of taxpayers’ money.

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