Filtered By: Money
Money

BIR continues search for technology to lower deficit


Although the Department of Justice has barred the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) from implementing revenue-raising measures, the BIR insisted it will continue to search for a "better and cheaper" technology just to lower the budget deficit. This runs contrary to the proposal of Swiss-based SICPA Securities Products SA, which earlier offered a technology-driven but expensive track-and-trace excise system touted to generate up to P70 billion a year in additional revenues from alcohol and cigarette manufacturers. BIR chief Kim Henares said the bureau will nonetheless continue to look for a "better but cheaper" technology as the government endeavors to plug a budget deficit reset once more to 3.6 percent of local output or the gross domestic product. "The DOJ ruling, barring the BIR from pursuing the SICPA proposal, has to be appealed because it effectively prevents government from collecting fees," Henares said over the weekend. Henares clarified that SICPA director Hans Schwab offered a technology that, while useful, proved too sophisticated and too expensive for government's requirement. "It is like being offered to use a lawnmower when all we really require is a simple machete or bolo. Their technology represents an overkill," she said. There is now a new search for a more appropriate technology whose capabilities are more to scale and certainly not expensive, Henares added. "We just need to ensure the next technology will be secure and cannot be manipulated by anyone and at a cost the government can afford," she said. Legislators and industry players have objected to its multi-billion peso price tag because it will bring the industry to pass on the added burden in the form of price increases to consumers. Earlier, Secretary Purisima told reporters the Development and Budget Coordination Committee recalibrated this year's macroeconomic assumptions to account for higher-than-anticipated spending seen to bloat the budget deficit to P325 billion. The widening deficit makes it more imperative for the BIR to find revenue-enhancing measures with long-term impact, and measures to plug revenue leaks will have to be be pursued in earnest, Purisima said. —With Jesse Edep/KBK/VS, GMANews.TV