Money really not enough?

COUNTRIES around the world are increasingly easing up on the various forms of lockdowns, curfews or movement controls — measures that were imposed a few months ago to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 ( Covid-19). The keyword here is, of course, “contain.” Many regions may have, at least for the moment, “flattened” the coronavirus infection curve, but we (both collectively as the worldwide community, as well as individually in our own respective regions) have definitely not defeated the virus or its spread, as have been numerously and misleadingly claimed in many instances.

No, far from it; we have no clear sight of when a vaccine for Covid-19 would emerge that would, at least as the theories go, immunize us from the scourge of the virus. Optimistic estimations put the vaccine on the market by the end of the year. Pessimists see the vaccine hitting the market perhaps in four to five years at the earliest; or it may not come out at all as the virus mutates its way over time and “travels,” defying the best efforts of medical science along the way. A more “moderate” (if one dares to claim so in these times of uncertainty) timeline puts the vaccine on the medicine racks in a year or a year-and-a-half’s time. Meanwhile, countries will have to somehow scramble for themselves in heading off the relentless onslaught of the viral infection.

Some countries, especially the more developed ones, can afford, at least for a time, to shore up their respective deteriorating economies that were shaky at best in the first place before the Covid-19 pandemic, as the world economy was on the doldrums anyway, and hit hard by the various lockdown measures enacted to counter the pandemic. In Australia and the United Kingdom, the governments could subsidize the private sector to keep the jobs of most employees during the lockdowns and beyond, sometimes to the tune of over 80 percent of employees’ salaries. The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in many developing countries could only cringe in envy as they learned about such largesse enjoyed by their developed counterparts. Developing countries can at most provide token support to their business communities, big and small, and the socioeconomic risks for weathering through the lockdowns and the pandemic are largely placed on the shoulders of the already heavily burdened business community. They are, in a very real sense, expected by their governments to provide the social security for a large portion of the population, whether they are so philanthropically inclined or not.

Some may argue that in more developed countries, higher rates of taxation have long been imposed, with many businesses and individuals having to pay more than half their profit or income as tax, so it is only fitting that such taxpayers receive more comprehensive coverage in times of socioeconomic difficulties such as now. They also point out such high tax rates are typically not imposed by the governments of many developing countries, which also have to use a large portion of the revenues for the purpose of, well, development.

I frankly think these commentators have either conveniently or deliberately ignored the “inconvenient” but pragmatic sociopolitical realities in many developing countries. For one, collusion, either forced by both the top government leaders down to the lowest bureaucratic file- movers upon the businessmen or lucratively offered by the latter to the former, is the cold, harsh reality of doing business in many developing economies. When an economy needs to be developed, it often takes the form of implementing many public projects, which, for better or worse, becomes the mainstay of the domestic economy. Yes, there are biddings and tenders and all those wonderful business formalities for the outside world to see, but ultimately they are awarded to “friendly parties,” which would share the profits of such public projects among themselves. So, in order to survive and thrive, businesses would effectively have to pay more than just the nominal tax, but an addition, often hefty taxes to the powers that be. This is not to mention the various smalltime, but cumulatively significant “grease money” that even SMEs would have to pay to those in charge in order to “move their files (such as application for licenses) along.” So, it may be fairly argued that the “real” proportion of taxes paid by individuals and businesses in many developing countries are no less than, or even exceed, that of many of the so-called hightax developed countries.

The same observers have perhaps also idealistically presumed that most public revenues are used for development in developing countries. In some developing countries, and this is on public record, up to 80 percent of public expenditures are not for development, but for shoring up the same, “well-oiled” bureaucracies mentioned above. This is not to mention the various aforementioned public projects with at best inflated pricing and at worst dubious public utilities and questionable feasibilities, that are draining the public coffers in many developing countries, often for the benefit of their leaders and a handful of favored businessmen. When pandemics or other catastrophes hit hard, for a public show of solidarity, these favored few are also asked to make some “sacrifice” that are grossly disproportionately minuscule in comparison with their accumulated favored gains over the years. The overwhelmingly large portion of socioeconomic risks, however, are still summarily placed upon the SMEs and the lowincome individuals, sometimes spurring them to either close shop or resort to self-help.

Collusion and corruption, and not “not enough money” in and of itself, are the real scourges that are at the heart of both the general inability to fully develop, as well as the specific incompetence to more fully tide over the more vulnerable segments of developing societies during emergency periods such as now. So long as we refuse to see these realities as they are and attempt to properly and “inconveniently” address them despite the various politically correct subterfuges, we will only continue to indulge in our romantic vision that may or may not last long.