SAN RAFAEL, Bulacan — Senator Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III has rejected the proposal to increase value added tax (VAT) to compensate for the government’s budget deficit, adding that focusing on effective tax collection will be the thrust of his administration if elected President on May 10.

In a press conference at 8 Waves Waterpark here, the Liberal Party standard bearer said the proposal of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to increase VAT from 12 to 15 percent is the “easy way out.”

“We can collect more taxes at the BIR and higher duties at Customs if we become more serious in curbing and punishing tax evasion and smuggling,” he said, as he pointed out that some P280 billion of the national budget was lost due to corruption in 2009 alone.

Aquino said that if government is able to plug the loopholes in the tax collection system, it would be enough to address the budget mess that the Arroyo administration is leaving as a legacy.

“There is a lot of room for our revenue base to grow. Our tax effort has gone down from 17 percent at its peak to a worrisome 13 percent today. If we can only bring this back even to just the 15 percent level, that will translate to P150 billion in additional revenues, which would make a significant dent in cutting our deficit,” Aquino pointed out, as he reiterated his position not to impose new taxes during his term.

Aquino said Teves’ proposal is part of the Arroyo administration’s insensitivity.

“This administration has squandered whatever revenue gains it had from the imposition of the EVAT.

Now that we are faced anew with a fiscal crisis, it wants to burden the people once more by raising consumption taxes,” he said.

“[But] we will not shift the burden of improving revenue collection to the Filipino people. This government dug up this debt hole we're in; an Aquino administration will try its best to dig us out of it by addressing the main reason we have not been able to collect taxes properly: corruption,” he added.

This developed as Aquino said that there is no point for him to visit the birthplace of Senator Manuel  “Manny” Villar Jr. in Moriones, Tondo, saying that Manila, during Villar’s birth in 1949, is different from the present capital marred by a “sea of garbage” that is the Manila Bay.

Aquino said that Villar cannot brag about taking a bath in a sea of garbage in his birthplace because there is none to speak of during his childhood.

“What’s the value of the visit if I cannot see the sea of garbage where he used to go and take a bath back in his childhood? I am sure that there is no sea of garbage to speak of yet in 1960. Besides, it’s already 2010, a lot of things have definitely changed in Tondo,” Aquino said, as he explained that why he doubted Villar’s claim of humble beginnings.