Taxmen cancel plan to resign, for now

Hundreds of tax collectors in the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) have put off their plan to

resign, deciding instead to wait for the fate of a congressional bill that would substantially raise their wages.

The taxmen, mostly lawyers and certified public accounts (CPAs), said they would follow their more than 300 colleagues who resigned recently if Congress rejects the proposed legislation.

Citing the overwhelming support of congressional leaders to remove the BIR from the Salary Standardization Law, Revenue Deputy Commissioner for Legal Service Jesus Clint Aranas said the bill is likely to pass before the end of the year.

Aranas, who was tasked by Revnue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay to shepherd the bill through Congress, said many lawmakers led by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III are themselves authors of the measure.

Aranas could not say how much additional pay taxmen would get, but said it could match the salary range of personnel of the Securities and Exchange (SEC).

The BIR chief receives a monthly pay 1117,000, while his SEC counterpart receives close to 1600,000.

Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez said he does not care if the salaries of taxmen would be increased five times provided it improves tax collection.

Aranas said what the BIR seeks is less than one percent of the agency’s P1.8trillion collection goal this year.

He said the government gets roughly 80 percent of its revenues from the BIR and taxmen should be justly compensated to make them more dedicated and productive.

Aranas added that raising the BIR employees’ pay is an effective tool in curbing corruption and could entice honest and competent lawyers and CPAs to join the bureau.

The BIR has more than 12,000 vacant posts.

The bureau has less than 10,000 workforce which Aranas said is too small to adequately cover millions of corporate and individual taxpayers nationwide.

He likened the “starvation” wage of taxmen to a food delivery man who is tempted to eat the food he is delivering due to hunger.

The BIR’s starting salary for a lawyer is 127,000 and 114,000 for a CPA, way below the pay scales for similar positions in the private sector and government financial institutions.