Proposed Marcos estate tax probe 'nothing to do with timing' —Gordon

Senator Richard Gordon on Monday said the proposed Senate inquiry into the Bureau of Internal Revenue's (BIR) alleged failure to collect the tax liability of the Marcos family amounting to P203.819 billion has "nothing to do with timing."

A member of the family, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., is running for president in the May elections.

"It has nothing to do with timing," Gordon said in an interview on ANC. "The public has the right to know whether taxes have to be paid and taxes have to be exacted. The government has enforced the law, otherwise people will stop paying taxes."

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III has filed Senate Resolution 998 calling on the Senate to investigate the reasons on why the estate tax dues of the Marcoses have not yet been collected after almost 25 years.

Gordon said it is the BIR's responsibility to ensure that taxes are collected and that erring taxpayers are punished.

"If somebody is playing tax evasion or tax avoidance or whatever, it is up to the BIR, which is the arm of the government, to make sure that they collect the tax properly and they enforce them against those who don't pay taxes," Gordon said.

Senator Imee Marcos on Friday questioned the timing of the estate tax issue, tagging it as part of the dirty politics.

She then said her mother Imelda and her lawyers have yet to receive a demand letter for the unpaid estate tax, which court records showed was initially set at P23 billion but has ballooned to P203 billion over the years.

The BIR earlier said it sent a demand letter to the Marcoses last year regarding their P203 billion tax liabilities.

On March 30, the Department of Finance said the BIR continued to demand that the Marcoses settle their estate tax debt.

Marcos' spokesperson Atty. Victor Rodriguez previously said the pieces of property which were the subject of the tax case were still under litigation, to which the BIR and the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) had an agreement on.

The PCGG, however, refuted his statement. —KBK, GMA News