UP Ibalon Bicol: No tax collection, no progress?

No tax collection, no progress?

10/09/2008 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post

If the Philippine government knows that taxes serve as lifeblood of its daily function, how come local and national government agencies and its owned & controlled corporations (GOCC’s) do not remit taxes they withheld from employees to the Bureau of Internal Revenue? What are they waiting for? Corruption plus inaction make the picture look worse.

The Commission on Audit (COA) disclosed this gross failure which accounted for revenue loss of P18.6 billion last year. With this uncollected money, is it any wonder why advancement is very slow in the Philippines?

“The GOCCs account for the biggest chunk of the lost revenue—P13.26 billion—followed by the national government agencies (P2.87 billion) and the local government units (P2.51 billion).

The total amount is more than the entire 2009 budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (P12.5 billion), the Department of Finance (P13.8 billion), or the Department of Foreign Affairs (P12 billion)

In 2006, among government agencies, the Department of Public Works and Highways accounts for the biggest amount of unremitted withholding taxes—P796 million—followed by the Department of Education (P303 billion) and Department of Agriculture (P201 million).---abs-cbnNEWS.com, Newsbreak (10/08/2008 Fonbuena,C)

Tasked to look for sources of govenment funds by the House of Representatives, the Congressional Planning and House Budget Office (CPBO) through its director of fiscal services Dina de Jesus Pasagui revealed that even the Philippine Congress and Senate owe the BIR P16 million in withholding taxes and COA owes P33 million. The CPBO chief Rodolfo Vicerra called for an improvement of taxpayers’ database of 29 million nationwide employees, of which only 5 million (less than 1/5) pay taxes.

It seemed the government focused on sensational cases of tax evasion among movie stars like Judy Santos and Regine Velasquez, but it didn’t look into the paralysis of tax collection in huge agencies where the big money would come from to finance the cost of running the country. =0=