Department of Finance bucks revival of joint executive-legislative tax body

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance (DOF) has thumbed down proposals seeking to revive the defunct Joint Legislative Executive Tax Commission, a body abolished during the declaration of Martial Law in 1972.

Senator Loren Legarda has filed a bill seeking to revive the commission to address weaknesses in tax administration.

However, in a position paper submitted to Congress, the DOF said the reinstitution of the tax commission is not likely to solve the weakness of tax administration of both the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs.

“The implementation of sound tax laws rests in the hands of the BIR and the BOC. Both bureaus have been unrelenting in their efforts to improve tax and customs administration through the adoption of various measures,” Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said.

Furthermore, he added that Congress has also favored an oversight committee to vigilantly monitor the implementation and tax laws and the collection efforts of the government.

He said the commission that was created then under Republic Act 2211 in 1959 was closely associated with Congress.

“One limiting factor with the tax commission set-up then was that because of it being an adjunct to Congress, politics and personalities inevitably exerted their influence over the Commission’s decisions on tax matters which proved to be more populist than economically useful,” Beltran stated in the position paper.

Furthermore, Beltran explained that the commission was comprised of technical staff that were mostly influenced by politicians.

“The influence of politics was also very evident in terms of personnel appointment to the technical staff. The then JLETC became an absorber of political recommendees who did not necessarily possess the work values and qualifications required of a highly skilled and professional technical staff,” Beltran said.

More importantly, he said the conduct of a continuing joint legislative-executive research on taxation may no longer be necessary as there are already existing government agencies such as the Senate Tax Study and Research Office, the Congressional Planning and Budget Office, the Research and Information Office of the finance department that undertake comprehensive study on taxes.

Beltran also said that the National Tax Research Center that was established through Presidential Decree 74 in 1972 does tax research while the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council takes up the tax programs of the government at the policy level.