exempt the elderly, please

“Under the last two years of Gloria’s (Macapagal-Arroyo) term, we lost about P100 billion from all those idiotic tax exemptions that Congress passed,” Senator Sergio Osmena said.

Though I am not really into economics, I must agree with his arguments, more like insult, to the tax exemptions provided for big corporation, to wit:

You cannot seek too many exemptions because it makes the system more inefficient. The tax incentives given to big corporations should only be given if the big corporations are still not here. And, I found out another idiotic thing where we are giving big tax exemptions to someone who has no place to go but here.

BUT I disagree with him as to the tax exemptions extended to senior citizens, which he also wanted to abolish. He said that with all these tax exemptions,  “we won’t be able to educate enough of our children, pay our teachers enough, pay our doctors enough.”

Probably he has a point from the macrofinance point of view, but mine is from the empathy I have for the elderly. The 20% discount on drugstores, for example, is a significant help in their arthritis problem, eczema treatment, and some much more dreaded disease. I am coming from purely emotional viewpoint, and well, my arguments probably wouldn’t pass for a rational one.

But my point is, many elderly in this country remained poor. Since their childhood up to the last moments of their lives, they had to always make ends meet. Our elders are the selfless type, those who would give everything to care for their children, and grandchildren. Up to now, I still see lolos and lolas on the streets, selling flowers or newspapers. There’s even an old man outside Beda who sells cigarettes, and he isn’t exactly in good health—poor eyesight, poor hearing, difficulty walking. I just hope that, even just at the final stages in their lives, our country could care for them, or at least exempt them from taxes. After all, they don’t exactly have a long time to enjoy these.