Belmonte shoots down proposal for PIRA

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. shot down yesterday the proposal for Congress to create a Philippine Internal Revenue Authority (PIRA) to replace the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Another lawmaker, former Speaker Manuel Villar Jr., also opposed the proposed creation of PIRA.

Belmonte told reporters that what the government needs to improve revenue collection are tax collectors who will do their job honestly and efficiently, and not a change in name of the principal tax collection agency.

He said if revenue collectors are dishonest and inefficient, they will not collect the right amount of taxes even if Congress agrees to the proposal of BIR Commissioner Rene Bañez to change his agency’s name.

He said the government would continue to be faced with a growing budget deficit unless the correct amount of taxes is collected.

He stressed that on the part of Congress, it has done its part in helping the BIR and other revenue-raising agencies.

Belmonte said the latest piece of legislation that lawmakers had enacted to improve revenue collection is the Lateral Attrition Act, which provides sanctions against officials and personnel of revenue agencies for failing to meet their collection targets.

He urged all those concerned to give this particular law a chance to work since 2001 is its first year of enforcement.

Sharing the Speaker’s views on Bañez’s PIRA, Villar said whether it is BIR, PIRA or any other name, "it will be the same banana unless they improve tax collection."

"They have to do a better job of collecting taxes. As it is, they are not able to achieve their revenue goals. This is the principal reason why the government is facing a big budget deficit," he said.

Villar pointed out that he and his colleagues in Congress have been telling the BIR to run after big taxpayers who are contributing only an insignificant sum to total tax collections.

"We even created a special department in the BIR for big taxpayers," he recalled.

"And yet, the revenue agency has not been able to improve its collection from this particular group of tax filers," he said.

He said salaried workers continue to contribute more than 90 percent of the total annual tax take of the government.

Villar added that unlike big taxpayers, workers cannot cheat on their tax payments because they are levied a fixed rate of withholding tax before even receiving their wages.