P-Noy brags record tax collections

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has boasted of doubling the amount of taxes collected by the administration of detained former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

 “When we stepped in, the highest collection on record was in 2008, at P778.6 billion…We surpassed this by leaps and bounds,” Aquino said in his sixth and last State of the Nation Address late Monday afternoon.

 Aquino said tax revenues generated by the Bureau of Internal Revenue reached P1.06 trillion in 2012, the first time the agency breached the P1 trillion mark. Last year, BIR’s tax collections increased to P1.3 trillion.

For this year, the Aquino administration aims to collect up to P1.5 trillion.

“We only needed five years to match, surpass, and almost double our predecessor’s record high – and we did this without imposing new taxes, as promised, apart from sin tax reform,” he said.

The amended sin tax reform law raised excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products.

Previous Congresses and administrations had sat for at least 15 years on bills that sought to increase sin taxes, giving tobacco and liquor companies a windfall.

Aquino thanked the present Congress for the enactment of the sin tax reform law.

He also gave credit to BIR Commissioner Kim Henares for the record tax collections.

“I believe that Commissioner Henares is a kind person, but those against whom she filed cases might have a different opinion. Commissioner Henares spared no tax evader: 380 cases have already been filed against those who attempted to evade taxes. She also made the system for tax payment more efficient, and made clear to everyone his civic duty to contribute to the development of our country,” he said.

For 2016, the BIR is expected to collect about P2 trillion while the Bureau of Customs is tasked to contribute P400 billion to state coffers.

Aquino is proposing a P3-trillion national budget for next year.

What the President did not mention is the annual budget has also doubled since he took over from Arroyo.