EDITORIAL - Is the "shame advertisement" effective?

After stalking those in the medical profession, the Bureau of Internal Revenue is again on the offensive, training its eyes on those in the legal profession.

In a paid newspaper advertisement, the BIR announced that one of five lawyers in the cities of Cebu and Davao "declared less income tax dues less than the average public school teacher."

However, such "shame advertisement" of the bureau is no longer necessary as far as the former president of the Cebu City chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines is concerned.    

According to lawyer Michael Yu, most lawyers in Cebu are representing cases for free and that the government should instead recognize their effort of helping those who could not afford legal fees.

For her part, the present IBP city chapter president, lawyer Elaine Bathan, wondered how the BIR was able to come up with such figure, claiming that "not all lawyers are similarly situated."          

Well, the public has yet to see whether this kind of campaign will work in favor of the government. We do not know yet if the BIR's earlier advertisement has been effective in forcing doctors to pay the right income tax since no data has been released.

The only thing we know is that the "shame ad" only garnered harsh reactions from its intended targets. And this latest campaign against those in the legal profession is expected to suffer the same.

It is sometimes laughable to think the BIR had to resort to this kind of campaign. Yes many doctors and lawyers in the country are not paying the right income taxes. But no amount of "shame ad" can force them if they do not want to pay their correct tax obligations.

As the public sees it, the problem lies in fact that this country lacks the appropriate measures that would prevent those professionals from cheating the government.