Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel (left) and DOF Secretary Benjamin Diokno (Screenshots from YouTube)

Simply put, Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Benjamin Diokno thinks that imposing a billionaires' tax is a bad idea. 

Diokno was asked of his opinion on the matter by Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel Thursday night, Aug. 10 during the first briefing held by House Committee on Appropriations on the P5.768-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) or proposed national budget for 2024. 

Manuel, a member of the militant Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives, argued that the imposition of a billionaires' tax could be both "efficient and high yield", since there are only a fee billionaires in the country. 

"Alam mo (You know), in terms of taxation, we prefer to tax what you consume from society, rather than your income. Because your income is what you contribute to society; you're paid higher because you're contribution is high," Diokno replied. 

The DOF chief defined consumption as what a person takes away from society. "So somebody who doesn't earn anything, but he consumers a lot, he should be taxed." 

"Pag tina-tax mo kasi yung mga high-income salary (If you tax people with high-income salary), you discourage work initiative. In fact that's the trend. Would you rely more on consumption tax rather than incomes tax?" Diokno asked the youth solon. 

Manuel countered that a billionaires' tax could be a way to "redistributing income" in society, as he noted that a very small section of Filipinos control most of the wealth in the Philippines. 

"I don't think that is a progressive measure, when you tax billionaires. Ilan lang yun di ba? And then, pampapogi lang yun, di ba? (They are few, right? And then, it's just for show, right?)" Diokno said in response. 

"But the tax yield from a billionaires' tax is much less than general consumption tax," added the Cabinet official, who was also once the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary. 

The Makabayan bloc, which is composed of administration critics, has been pursuing the imposition of a form of "wealth tax'" for years now. 

Diokno was joined by his fellow Marcos administration economic managers from the Development and Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) during the appropriations panel briefing.