Lawmaker backs higher salary for BIR employees

Senator Sonny Angara supports the idea of raising the salary scale of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) officials and employees and officials to rid the bureau of graft and corruption.

“Better pay would allow the agency to hire the best and reward the honest in order to eliminate, or at the very least, minimize corruption in the agency. If we cannot attract competent and talented professionals, how can we expect our revenues to grow?” Angara, chairman of Senate Ways and Means Committee, said on Friday.

Early this month, the senator filed Senate Bill 1314, which seeks to add the BIR to the list of agencies exempted from the Salary Standardization Law (SSL).

Government agencies currently exempted from the SSL include the Insurance Commission, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Securities and Exchange Commission.

An entry-level accountant employed by IC and SEC receives P50,000 a month, while the same position in the BIR gets P19,000 a month, according to the lawmaker.

For lawyers, the entry-level salary is P35,700 at the BIR. The same professionals get P66,520 from the IC and P53,750 from the SEC, the lawmaker further noted.

“This is not just an anti-corruption measure, but an administrative reform to hike our collections. There should be performance benchmarks attached to any increase to ensure better services and improved accountability of the officials and employees,” Angara noted.

The government suffers from billions of pesos of losses due to tax leakages brought about by tax avoidance and evasion schemes, sometimes in collusion with corrupt revenue officials, Angara said.

The latest BIR data showed that of the 21,491 positions at the bureau less than half or 9,835 have been filled.

BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay recently revealed that some 300 BIR employees have resigned as a result of the campaign against corruption.

“With competitive salaries, we aim to attract young and idealistic professionals who can revitalize the BIR and improve tax administration and enforcement. Such exemption is long overdue,” Angara said. — Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News