BIR thrust: Produce tax evader per sem

The Bureau of Internal Revenue is required to produce at least one tax evader per semester starting this year.

BIR regional director Jaime Santiago said that this is one of the major thrusts of the bureau he considered for this year.

Although Santiago has stated that there are no big tax evaders in Cebu as he believes that taxpayers in the region are so supportive to the government by settling their taxes, he warned that they will try their best to produce one tax evader to the public per semester.

As proof of this support, Santiago presented yesterday the increase in collection efficiency in BIR revenue region 13 composed of Cebu and Bohol provinces.

In 2004, BIR Cebu collected P5.791 billion. A year after, the collection reached P7.28 billion that registered a 5.6 percent increase.

Santiago said that they were given a goal of only P6.6 billion for 2005 but actual collection exceeded the target. The collection efficiency and the growth rate in the region last year marked 21.36 percent.

Santiago has called on the public to report to their office should they know of people, especially supposed large taxpayers, who are not paying their taxes.

has assured the public of efficient tax collection with the implementation of the 12 percent Reformed Value Added Tax. - Gregg M. Rubio