|
HELP is
coming to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which
has its hands full catching fixed-income earners, the
self-employed and professionals who collectively evaded
paying P180 billion worth of taxes in a six-year period.
The BIR
has received a grant of $1 million from the Millennium
Challenge Corp. (MCC) and will use this to strengthen a
collection system that is seen as always one step behind
tax evaders.
Such
resources are “enough to help us pursue our RATE
program,” Deputy BIR Commissioner Gregorio Cabantac said
on Friday.
This
pertains to the government’s Run After Tax Evaders
(RATE) program, which has thus far netted such local
celebrities as Regine Velasquez, Richard Gomez and Judy
Ann Santos, who were once accused of not paying the
right taxes as screen and stage performers.
Manila
has had a number of its programs pursued with the help
of the MCC, having earlier been declared eligible to
draw from the multibillion-dollar Millennium Challenge
Account operated by the United States Agency for
International Development or USAID.
Cabantac
said the RATE program continues to be pursued in earnest
under the stewardship of BIR chief Lilian Hefti, whose
six-month cash collection this year exceeded the goal by
P1.2 billion at P376.7 billion.
The BIR
would come out as having exceeded its goal by P10.7
billion if its noncash revenues of P11.9 billion were
tallied.
Cabantac
said the RATE program aims to encourage voluntary
compliance by making it known that violators will be
caught for certain, and punished accordingly. |
