Tax collections affected by two recent calamities

CEBU, Philippines - Bureau of  Internal Revenues (BIR)-Revenue No. 13 Acting Director Hermeno Palamine said is impossible for them to meet the P17-billion target revenue collection this year after the recent calamities that struck Bohol and Cebu.

 â€œAng collection namo karon affected kaayo, and even the national office sympathetic namo karon kay nobody can pay taxes yet with the recent calamities. Naa mi assigned goal.  Definitely ang goal di namo makuha tungod ani ” he said.

 BIR-Revenue No. 13 covers the islands of Bohol and Cebu and is composed of Revenue District Office (RDO) No. 80-Mandaue City, RDO No. 81-Cebu City North, RDO No. 82- Cebu City South, RDO No. 83- Talisay City, and RDO No. 84- Tagbiliran City.

 Palamine said with both islands devastated by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda, people would be incapable of paying taxes.

 â€œMalisod gyod og cope up kay super affected mi sa pagkakaron, maka-cope up siguro mi pag naka-recover na ang typhoon-quake stricken areas,” he said. 

 â€œAng Bohol and Cebu  apektado kaayo, so ang collection apektado pud. Also, kung apektado ang Bogo City and neighboring towns walay collection, then it will greatly affect our collections, apil na sa head office,” Palamine explained.

 Mandaue District is one of the biggest revenue districts in the region in terms of tax collection covering the northern part of Cebu.

 Palamine also said some people took advantage of the situation rather than helping the government.

 â€œNakasabot kita nga nay kalamidad pero bisan ang mga tao nga wa naapektuhan mosakay man pud sa sitwasyon og dili mobayad sa ilang mga taxes. Karon ang panahon nga angay kita motabang sa gobyerno, ato ning duty ug responsibilidad.  It’s high time to pay our dues and obligation,” he said.

 BIR collection from January to December this year, or before the two calamities happened, was around 20 percent higher than last years.

 The BIR national office mandated that BIR-Revenue No. 13 achieve about P17 billion in collection for 2013, or 30 percent higher than last year’s P14.8 billion.

 Palamine said they can no longer achieve this. (FREEMAN)