DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/ 31 January) — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in Davao Region is targeting to collect P20.35 billion in taxes by end of 2018.
BIR regional director Nuzar Balatero told reporters on Tuesday that the proposed 2018 target is higher by 11 percent compared with P18.1 billion in tax revenues collected in 2017.
He said the bureau collected P18.2 billion in the region last year, surpassing its P18.1 billion target by a slim margin.
Balatero said target collection has yet to be approved by the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), composed of the Secretary of Budget and Management as chair; the Director-General of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretariat as co-chair; and the Executive Secretary, Secretary of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines, as members.
It’s the DBCC, which recommends to the President the level of annual government expenditures and the ceiling of government spending for economic and social development, national defense, and government debt service; proper allocation of expenditures for each development activity between current operating expenditures and capital outlays; and amount set to be allocated for capital outlays broken down into the various capital or infrastructure projects.
Balatero urged business entities in the region to pay the correct taxes while, at the same time, warned erring taxpayers of closure through Oplan Kandado if they under-declare their tax dues.
He said there would be more businesses that will face closure in the coming days, following the closure of Café Demitasse, a homegrown coffee shop located on F. Torres St. in Davao City.
Balatero said they need to step up their collections because these are necessary to fund the Duterte administration’s “Build. Build. Build” program, a five-year massive infrastructure initiative worth P8 trillion to P9 trillion.
Under this program, the government lists down high impact projects envisioned to “increase the productive capacity of the economy, create jobs, increase incomes, strengthen the investment climate leading to sustained inclusive growth.”
He added they will train their inspectors in the region to crackdown on taxpayers using an automated suppression software installed on point of scale (POS) terminals after agency’s inspectors found establishments using the software to under-declare their sales.
“It’s definitely fraudulent practice. We can file a criminal case or revoke their permits for using it,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
