By Alec Go
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, Feb. 7, called on the public to pay their taxes as the country’s economy continues to recover from the impact of the global health crisis.
Speaking at the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) National Tax Campaign Kickoff in Pasay, Marcos said the taxes will be utilized for the country’s benefit and be used as “an investment in uplifting the quality of lives.”
“I encourage the public to pay the correct amount of taxes on time to support the country’s economic recovery and expansion so critical [at] this time,” he said.
“It is my confidence that you will continue to cooperate, collaborate, and coordinate with the government on how to improve the experience of our tax collection system,” he added.
In 2022, the president said 115 tax cases were filed with the Department of Justice and 38 cases by the Court of Tax Appeals. These translate to P5.1 billion and P5.32 billion tax liabilities, respectively.
These efforts under the Oplan Kandado program, he said, brought the government over half a billion. The Tax Compliance Drive also raised P250 million tax collections in 2022.
Marcos challenged the BIR to improve public confidence in the tax system, as he vowed support for BIR’s aim to make the country conducive for employment opportunities, financial investments, and institution-building.
The BIR was lauded for utilizing modern technology to improve its services through the Digitalization Transformation (DX) Program.
“Indeed, you have been firm and resolute in modernizing the services and elevating our people’s experiences by utilizing reliable, scalable, robust, sustainable technologies and infrastructure for our country’s tax collection,” Marcos said.
“As we move forward to the future, the importance of utilizing modern and updated technology to ensure a more tax [efficient] collection becomes absolutely imperative. It is my hope that the Bureau will continue its commitment to pursuing and upgrading its digitalization programs,” he added. – gb