THE PHILIPPINES’ taxman has long struggled
to compel the country’s elite pay its fair share, but a name-and-shame
campaign targeting one of history’s greatest boxers and the "sexiest
woman alive" is aiming to change that.
A crusade against wealthy Filipinos is part
of President Benigno S. C. Aquino III’s high-profile effort to curb tax
evasion throughout all sectors of society, a central plank of his quest
to fight widespread corruption.
Boxing hero Emmanuel "Manny" D. Pacquiao became the latest to be caught
in the crosshairs when the Bureau of Internal Revenue froze his bank
accounts last week for refusing to pay a $50-million tax bill related to
earnings in the ring in 2008 and 2009. The boxer says he has already
paid the required taxes in the United States and paying in the
Philippines would equate to double taxation.
While the champion appeared stunned and claimed he was being harassed,
it was in fact just the latest strike by the BIR since Mr. Aquino came
to power in 2010 that has targeted hundreds of rich or famous Filipinos.
"When ordinary people see that we are going after popular and well-known
figures... it drives home the point that paying taxes is a civic duty,"
Claro B. Ortiz, who runs the bureau’s Run After Tax Evaders (RATE)
campaign, told AFP.
The revenue bureau has so far filed criminal complaints or charges
against 200 wealthy Filipinos it accuses of avoiding a combined P44.45
billion ($1.02 billion) in taxes.
Mr. Pacquiao, who is also a second-term congressman with ambitions of
eventually becoming president, has not been charged. His case is
currently a civil matter. Among those facing criminal prosecution are
actor-model celebrities, including Solenn A. Heussaff, named by the
Philippine edition of Esquire magazine this year as "the sexiest
woman alive". Wealthy individuals who are away from the limelight are
also being pursued, including a precious metals trader who allegedly
failed to disclose over a billion pesos’ worth of refined gold and
silver sales to the central bank.
Tax evasion is punishable by up to 10 years in jail. However, those
facing prosecution can have charges or criminal complaints dropped by
cutting a deal with the revenue bureau, or hope to have their case lost
in the quicksand of the Philippines’ justice system. Criminal cases in
the Philippines’ overwhelmed courts take an average of six years to
complete, according to 2010 government data.
The Philippines is also infamous for a "culture of impunity" in which
the wealthy or powerful are able to bribe, intimidate or otherwise use
their influence so that they are rarely held accountable for crimes.
Just one person has been put behind bars for tax evasion since Mr.
Aquino came to power in 2010, and her four-year prison term, meted out
last year stemmed from charges filed in 2005.
But the government is banking on a wide range of name-and-shame
techniques to fight tax evasion. It regularly publishes in newspapers
lists of top tax-paying companies in various industries and asks readers
whether successful businesses they know of should be there. It also
releases an annual list of the country’s wealthiest individuals and
companies, highlighting the huge difference between their riches and
taxes paid.
Occasionally there is also some direct presidential intervention. In
March, Mr. Aquino warned the Chinese-Filipino community to start paying
taxes or face prosecution. In an address to an annual meeting of the
Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr.
Aquino said just 8% of its companies paid taxes.
The stakes are so high in the Philippines because tax evasion costs $10
billion each year, equivalent to 4% of GDP. The government is claiming
limited success in its campaign, citing tax collections having risen by
14% last year.
However, has also acknowledged there is a long way to go before tax
evasion is tamed, and that the onus rests on whoever takes over from Mr.
Aquino in 2016 to continue long-term anti-corruption reforms. -- AFP
source: Businessworld
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