MANILA, Philippines - Candidates running in the May 2010 elections have been spending billions for their campaign but the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has collected only P100 million from the five-percent withholding tax slapped on all political contributions and campaign expenditures of candidates.
BIR Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres said the agency might actually miss its target to collect P1.2 billion from the five-percent withholding tax because the tax applies only to the official campaign period from Feb. 9 to May 8 for national candidates and from March 26 to May 8 for local candidates.
Tan-Torres said the P1.2-billion projected collections covered the period from December 2009, or after the period for filing of candidacy up to the May elections.
Nonetheless, Tan-Torres said the P100-million collected so far would significantly boost state coffers, and expected the figure to increase to “hundreds of millions.”
Tan-Torres warned candidates could be slapped with tax evasion charges under the BIR’s reinvigorated Run After Tax Evaders (RATE) program for failing to pay the five-percent withholding tax.
Last year, the BIR issued Revenue Regulation 8-09 requiring all political candidates, political parties and contributors to register with the BIR as withholding agents.
Torres continued the implementation of the BIR regulation that started under former commissioner Sixto Esquivias IV, who resigned last year.
The BIR has been looking into other possible sources of revenues amid the government’s widening budget deficit.
This year, the BIR is tasked to collect P830 billion, lower than the original revenue goal of P875 billion.
Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar Jr. was among the biggest spenders in political advertisements.
Villar, however, maintained he has not violated any laws pertaining to political advertisements under the Fair Elections Act.
Despite the accusations of extravagance, the NP said they are coming out with more political ads, this time featuring the male senatorial candidates of the party.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) admitted there is no clear-cut policy on broadcast campaign ads with more than one candidate.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the poll body would study the new scheme of advertisement and how it should be computed under the Fair Elections Act.
Under the law each candidate is allowed 120 minutes for television campaign ads.
Exceeding this limit constitutes an election offense that is punishable with up to six years imprisonment and disqualification from public office. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Christina Mendez, Evelyn Macairan