Incoming BIR Commissioner Lilia Guillermo: “Marami rin nakikitang citizens ang tataas ng lifestyle nila, yet kung compare mo taxes na binabayaran nila, ma-question mo rin …”
LILIA GUILLERMO — As the Philippine government tries to raise collections amidst the country’s debt, the incoming Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) commissioner is eyeing lifestyle checks on professionals and social media influencers.
Guillermo urged social media influencers and professionals to register, issue receipts, and pay proper taxes.
“Marami rin nakikitang citizens ang tataas ng lifestyle nila, yet kung compare mo taxes na binabayaran nila, ma-question mo rin: bakit ang dami mo properties? Display mo pa nga,” she said.
According to her, she will use her experiences as an IT professional and a statistician as well as her work at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in order to further improve tax collection.
She added that she wanted to initiate not just a digital transformation, but a moral transformation as well at the tax bureau, which was usually perceived to be one of the most corrupt in government.
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Aside from eyeing lifestyle checks on professionals and social media influencers, Guillermo also planned to continue with the lifestyle check among the ranks of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
ABS-CBN News reported that the tax bureau faced a huge task of raising revenue collections as the Philippines’ debt hit an all-time high of PHP 12.76 trillion in April.
However, she said that there’s no need to add new taxes if tax collection could be improved.
According to her, one way to do this is via digitalization and expanding the tax bureau’s online services. This will also minimize transactions between BIR employees and taxpayers as well.
“Make it easy for taxpayers to comply na madali sila magrerehistro, madali sila kukuha ng mga resibo, madali sila mag-pay ng taxes,” she said. “So that in that case, it will be easy for them to comply. Papasok voluntary ang tax collection.“
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