Books and Bureau of customs, an unfortunate alliteration

First of all, if you share in the conviction that books should be rendered tax-free, kindly sign this [petition].

I haven't read nor purchased any book lately perhaps because of my school work but I am compelled to write something about books. This sudden desire was due to the recent agitation of Filipino bloggers towards the idea of imposing taxes on imported books. I'm not really sure if I understood everything about the issue. What I am certain about is, if books will be taxed, I may not have a shelf filled with books like what is illustrated in the photo to the left.

From what I read, (and honestly, it is only now that I learned about this) all the imported books that we have been reading are tax-free, be it imported or local. Books were even exempt from the implementation of the Value-Added Tax. This was in compliance to the 1952 Florence Agreement which obliges the signatories to render the importation of books tax-free so that there will be a free flow of ideas. Now, undersecretary Espele Sales argues that these books have to be taxed giving rise to what has been called the Great Book Blockade.

My rough providence of information could be cured by reading the column about it. Here is the [link].

Now let's go to the opinion part.

I think the efforts of the government in increasing its revenues are commendable. Atleast that's what is being shown in television and news. I recall the government calling the E-VAT a bitter pill because of the relief it can provide after taking it. But I think, the issue is not about increasing the revenue of the government by imposing taxes on the books but the validity of undersecretary Espele Sales' interpretation of the Florence Agreement and the Acts passed by the government. Also, the imposition of tax on books will run against the government's consistency of rendering it tax-free. Do we have a fickle-minded government?

Had Sales been right, he might be considered a genius by identifying a mistake in an agreement which has been faithfully observed for the past half-century. Otherwise, he's a fool.

I think to solve this problem, efforts in clarifying the issue must be done. Here is a [link] containing an entry about the Florence agreement entry.

So do we have a genius or a fool?
If he is a fool, more geniuses might be spawned.
If he is a genius, our future geniuses might not have enough books to indulge in.

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I have plans to go to medicine. Books in med are already expensive!
If you have a blog, kindly blog about your opinion about this topic. Your grandchildren might appreciate it.
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