Palace: Doctors not being singled out in tax collection efforts

Following a backlash from professional tax payers over a government ad, Malacañang clarified on Tuesday they are not singling out doctors in the campaign to collection more taxes.

 

"Hindi naman sini-single out ang kahit anong grupo," Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said during a press conference.

 

He issued the statement after doctors slammed a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) advertisement portraying doctors as tax evaders.

 

The Philippine Medical Association even said the BIR should apologize for the ad which showed a doctor riding piggyback on a school teacher with a tally of their incomes. 

 

But Coloma said the advertisement is part of a series which tackles all industries, not just doctors.

 

"They [BIR] are going from industry to industry kasi, by common knowledge, merong mga establishment na mataas ang patronage. So, parang hindi kapani-paniwala na mababa ang kanilang nire-report na kinita at lalo pang mababa 'yung binayad nilang income tax," he said.

 

Coloma said he "understands" that professional organizations may have differences with the BIR regarding the "creative presentation" of the ad but professionals should view the whole thing from a wider perspective.

 

"If we look at the bigger picture, the bigger picture is that we need more tax collections to be able to fund our economic development programs," he said.

 

"Hindi naman natin nais siraan o pahiyain ang kahit anong grupo. Ang panawagan dito ay yung makilahok sa pagpapalago ng ating ekonomiya. So this is a persuasive not a punitive effort," he added.

 

From the perspective of the administration, the groups can sit down with the BIR and the Department of Finance to "thresh out" their differences and tackle the issue with a "win-win approach... 

 

"I think it would be regrettable if, just because of differences on creative presentation, they will not abide by the campaign of the government. I am certain that in their hearts, they want to contribute. Puwede namang pag-usapan kung mayroong mga pagkakaiba ng opinyon," he said.

 

Flashback SONA 

 

In driving his point, Coloma even cited President Benigno Aquino III's State of the Nation Address in 2011 when he called on self-employed professionals to pay the correct amount of taxes.

 

The President, then citing BIR data, said around 1.7 million self-employed and professional taxpayers (lawyers, doctors, businessmen) paid a total of P9.8 billion in 2010.

 

"This means that each of them paid only an average of P5,783 in income tax – and if this is true, then they each must have earned only P8,500 a month, which is below the minimum wage. I find this hard to believe," he said.

 

"Today, we can see that our taxes are going where they should, and therefore, there is no reason not to pay the proper taxes. I say to you: It’s not just the government, but our fellow citizens, who are cheated out of the benefits that these taxes would have provided," the President added.

 

Coloma said the BIR is campaigning to intensify efforts at increasing the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio to 16 to 18 percent by 2016. As of 2013, he said the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio reached 13.6 percent, which is still below the 17 percent recorded prior to the Asian financial crisis in 1997.

 

"If we have a growing economy, there is no reason why we cannot at least get back at that 17 percent level that we already attained more than 10 years ago," he said. – VS, GMA News