Purging the BIR

As a purge of the Bureau of Customs gets under- way, President Duterte has announced that the Bureau of Internal Revenue is next in his campaign against corruption. He won’t be the first to embark on what skeptics see as an impossible mission in the BIR.

In surveys over the past years, the two biggest revenue-generating government agencies have consistently competed for the dubious distinction of being the most corrupt. Bureau of Customs personnel have managed to sabotage every effort to computerize operations and reduce personal discretion in the processing of shipments. Apart from corruption, BOC officials and personnel have been linked to large-scale drug trafficking. Perhaps the Duterte administration will succeed where previous ones have not; whether the cleansing can be sustained and will have a long-term impact is another story.

BIR personnel have been less unable to skirt computerization efforts that close certain doors to corruption. There have been recent successes in going after large-scale tax evaders, such as the pursuit of Mighty Corp., which resulted in the collection of a record P30 billion from the cigarette maker.

The BIR, however, continues to be hounded by allegations of corruption, particularly in the assessment of corporate taxes. Corruption has been insinuated even in the spate of ransom kidnappings targeting certain bureau officials since last year.

As the President himself has pointed out, human discretion continues to play a considerable role in assessing the amounts that must be collected particularly from large taxpayers. And he’s not happy with the reports he’s getting. Perhaps his unhappiness will finally lead to a thorough purge in the BIR.