Tax advocate to Duterte: ‘Appoint good, honest BIR and BoC chiefs’

CEBU, Philippines - The administration of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte is urged to appoint "good and honest" commissioners both for the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs, the government agencies riddled with allegations of corrupt practices.

"It is best to appoint someone from the ranks who knows the system very well," said tax expert Raymond Abrea, president and chief strategy officer of Abrea Consulting Group.

Commenting on the recent pronouncement of Duterte's camp to overhaul the BIR, Abrea said "genuine reform can hardly take place if we're not ready to overhaul the tax system and be ready for any consequence like lower tax collections as one of its possible setbacks."

"However, I don't think we can or we should remove all BIR officials and personnel. Who will run the agency? I mean, it's like blaming BIR solely for the corrupt system which we tolerated or where we participated ourselves. Let's address the problem rather than avoid it by removing all BIR people," Abrea told The FREEMAN.

Presumptive speaker Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez was earlier quoted as saying that all BIR officials and personnel should be changed as corruption continues to be rampant in the agency.

Stop corruption

Abrea said BIR employees should instead be asked to resign if they cannot promise "to stop corrupt practices including, but not limited to, accepting bribes or extorting money during tax audit, which we all know happens."

Abrea further pointed out that tax audit could be suspended for a year and ask all BIR examiners to assist instead all taxpayers so they can comply and pay the right taxes without the fear of penalties and compromise.

"I would push for full automation of BIR, and streamlining of all processes," the tax expert noted.

"As I have said during the campaign, I may feel unsafe with his (Duterte) hero complex to save us all from despair but if it will end corruption in both BIR and BoC, then I will gladly give my full support to Duterte," he said.

In his open letter to Davao City mayor, Abrea urged Duterte to prioritize three things: appoint good and honest BIR and BoC commissioners; form the Tax Reform Commission composed of multi-sectoral groups; and lower income taxes both individual and corporate or least for employees; and ask the Department of Finance to stop studying it and BIR to start doing its job by assisting taxpayers to increase voluntary collections.

Support

Abrea stressed that tax reform needs the people's support.

"Let's be part of the reform [by] paying our taxes correctly, educating ourselves on how to improve our voluntary compliance without compromises and asking for official receipts when we purchase something," the tax whiz said.

"Running after tax evaders should not rest with BIR, the same way we know the drug pushers and users in our neighborhood, we need to help the government run after real (big time) tax evaders in our community or industry," he pointed out. (FREEMAN)