Saturday, January 04, 2014

QC residents to pay for simple trash collection.

Although yes, it has been said that it will be an annual payment, the law passed by the Quezon City Council, and approved by Mayor Herbert Bautista is just absurd.

Trash collection just as law enforcement is a public service, and should remain free. People are already paying their taxes for that, why is there a need for an add-on?

What more, after making it an annual due, will the Quezon City government lae it to a monthly thing? Heaven forbid, that once other LGUs have seen the extra income that garbage collection has given to politicos in QC, will they follow suit? Charging everyone in the whole metropolis, then the whole country for public service.

To quote an editorial from the inquirer:

Bautista, Ferrer, et al. may cite lofty reasons for this new tax, but its arbitrary nature cannot be papered over. If something as fundamental as garbage collection can now be “taxed” separately, over and above the other requisite fees ordinary citizens have to pay the government, then what’s to stop the Quezon City government from levying payments next for, say, assigning more police presence to a particular area? Or installing new street lights? Or repairing busted pipes, putting out fires, managing traffic, saving people from floods and disasters?