MALACANANG urged the people to support the intensified drive of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to generate more government funds that will be used for developmental projects and eventually bring real progress and development to the country.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr. encouraged the Filipino citizenry, especially those in the professional sector, to declare their actual annual income and pay their taxes properly as enunciated by President Benigno S. Aquino III in his State of the Nation Address during the Joint Session of the 15th Congress at the Batasan Pambansa Complex in Quezon City on Monday.
The Executive Secretary stressed the importance of the people’s trust in government as he assured that the funds collected by the government’s revenue collection agency will directly go into the national treasury. According to the BIR, 1.7 million self-employed and professional taxpayers comprised of lawyers, doctors and businessmen, among other, paid a total of 9.8 billion pesos in 2010.
The data indicates that each of them paid only an average of 5,783 pesos in income taxes – if proven true – each must have earned only 8,500 pesos per month, which is below the existing minimum wage in the country.
The President also spelled out the concrete projects of his administration using public funds collected by the BIR. According to the President, cheating in the payment of taxes not only affects the government funds collection but also the Filipino people who could have enjoyed from the benefits these taxes would have provided. (PCOO)
