PRESIDENT Aquino on Friday chided Filipino-Chinese businessmen who do not pay the correct taxes or do not pay any income tax at all.
Mr. Aquino, who was guest of honor at the convention of the Federation of the Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII), brought up what he called a “bit disconcerting” report from Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares.
“Based on your own 2011-2013 directory, I understand that your federation includes 207 firms and organizations as members. Of this 207, I am told only 105 have a Tax Identification Number [TIN]. I wonder what happened to the others,” Mr. Aquino said.
The President added that of the 105 firms in the FFCCCII, only 54 have filed tax returns.
“To make matters worse, 38 firms and organizations actually filed returns with zero tax due. This means that only 16 out of the 207—or only around 8 percent—of your member-organizations paid taxes. The 6.6 [2012 gross domestic product] growth did not seem to affect your members,” said the President.
“Now, there are also 552 of you who are individual members. And of this number, 424 of you have TINs. It is interesting to note that of that number, 185, or almost 44 percent, filed income tax returns,” he said.
Of those who filed tax returns, he said “at least only 14 filed returns with zero tax due.”
“What this means is 354 out of 552 members—or 64 percent of you —did not pay taxes for the same reasons: no TIN, no tax due, or nothing filed at all.”
“In fact, of those who filed and paid income taxes, a lot of you paid less than P100,000. There were some who paid less than P1,000 in taxes,” he said.
He reminded the group that there is now a national government that can be counted upon and continue to fight corruption.
“The money you pay to government now also goes to classrooms, teachers, textbooks, health care, food, disaster relief and other initiatives that ensure that our people are given the opportunity to live dignified lives. When they are healthy, when they do not lack for education, when they are secure in the knowledge that they are cared for by the state—these same people will constitute a work force that is more productive and can definitely spur the growth of your very own companies. So you see: The taxes you pay are not lost in some black hole. They redound to real, concrete benefits for businessmen like yourselves, and for the rest of our people,” he said.
The government says tax-dodging is a serious problem in the Philippines, where, along with corruption, poor tax collections leave the state unable to pay for basic services and improve facilities like roads and airports.
The FFCCCII is an influential group of businessmen. Its members also control large swathes of the Philippine economy and make up about half of the country’s 40 richest individuals on the annual Forbes magazine list. Some of them are also campaign donors of politicians seeking both local and national posts.
Since Mr. Aquino was elected under an anti-corruption platform in 2010, the justice department and the tax bureau have been aggressively filing tax-evasion charges against wealthy businesspeople, as well as celebrities.
“Gone are the days when your taxes disappeared into the pockets of an unscrupulous few, or when bending the rules may have been the only way for otherwise honest companies to keep operating,” Mr. Aquino told the association.
“There is still time,” he added.
Mr. Aquino urged the group’s members to file their income-tax returns by April 15, the annual deadline for paying taxes due the previous year.
“Today I am appealing to you to correct the situation and fulfill your civic duty. There is still time. After April 15, you will have to deal with Commissioner Kim Henares herself and with Secretary Leila de Lima at her back. Again, please bear that in mind: April 15,” he said.
Source: ABS.CBN.news.com, PNA. Business Mirror. 23 March 2013
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