MANILA, Philippines - Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima called on the new lawyers to help the government in ensuring tax compliance among Filipinos.
"Congratulations to our successful bar examinees. As new lawyers, I hope that you start your careers by promising to pay the right amount of taxes and not to help clients evade taxes. If you do so, then you would have passed the higher bar of good citizenship not just good lawyering,†Purisima said in a statement published on Thursday by the Department of Finance.
The Cabinet secretary said professionals in all industries, including law, should be more diligent in their tax payments.
DOF said tax collections from self-employed, businesses and professionals (SEP) made up about 8 percent of all individual income tax collections in 2009, but the share is expected to dip to 6.8 percent in 2012.
The state agency said tax compliance in the SEP categories has been historically poor due to fraudulent business expense deductions, failures in filing income tax returns and inconsistency in issuing official receipts.
In 2011, 402,934 individuals in the SEP categories paid an average of P33,441 in taxes. The Finance Department and the Bureau of Internal Revenue are targeting an average collection of P200,000 from 1.8 million individuals in the SEP categories which would translate to a P360-billion collection revenue.
"I also would like to urge all new entrants to the workforce as well as their seniors in their professions to pay the correct taxes. A stronger tax effort must be bolstered by the brightest among us,†the finance chief said.