Secretary of Finance
August 1, 2024
BIR Commissioner Jun Lumagui, Jr.; men and women of the BIR; fellow government workers; mga kapamilya sa DOF: Magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.
While other agencies can and do take a day off to celebrate their founding anniversary, such is a luxury the BIR cannot afford.
Today may have been your 120th birthday, an auspicious milestone, but like in the past, it will remain a working anniversary for the men and women of BIR.
This is due to the burden imposed on you, by a government who relies on your labors to redeem the promises the people expect it to deliver.
For this year, you are tasked to collect 3.05 trillion pesos.
Which on a daily basis is 8.2 billion pesos. Or 342.5 million pesos per hour.
But the unbundled data I have found impressive is the average per employee collection a year.
And it is 191.5 million pesos, per BIR employee.
‘Yan ang per capita revenue production ninyo. 191.5 million pesos. Bawat isa sa inyo. Atleast bawat taon simula ngayon.
And how much does the BIR spend to collect 100 pesos in revenues? A measly 52 centavos.
Kaya kung tutuusin natin, sulit na sulit ang budget ng BIR na 15 billion pesos ngayong taon para sa 3.05 trillion pesos na koleksyon.
The BIR has come a long way since the colonial power founded it in 1904.
There were only 69 employees then, almost all-American, cocooned in one office, all of whom could fit in a bus.
Today, the agency has 15,666 employees, as audited by the COA, dispersed through many buildings throughout the archipelago.
Of the buildings that house you, add a new one: A 5-billion-peso nine-story–one that will soon rise upon orders of the President.
It is an institutional dividend you all deserve.
Not only has the workforce surged in number, the collection has also been supersized.
One hundred years ago in 1924, 72.18 million pesos lang ang koleksyon ng BIR – sa buong taon.
Kasama na dito ang import taxes at ang real property taxes.
Ngayon, ang 72.18 million pesos ay katumbas lang ng koleksyon n’yo sa loob ng limang oras at bente minutos.
One hundred years ago, the annual per capita tax payment, or what the average Pinoy paid in direct and indirect taxes a year, was 6 pesos and 21 centavos.
Buong taon na ‘yan.
Ngayon ang 6 pesos and 21 centavos mas maliit pa ‘yan sa buwis ng isang kaha ng yosi, o isang bote ng beer, o isang litro ng gasolina.
S’ya nga pala, kung may duda kayo sa aking datos, you can check with a former DOF undersecretary who was already alive at that time – si Manong Juan Ponce Enrile.
I cited this trivia not to take you on a lazy stroll down the sentimental lane, but to use this flashback on how we can move forward fast.
Because whatever the era, the BIR’s central role in nation-building has remained the same.
It is impervious to technological changes, unaffected by the shifting tides of history.
Whether tax assessments were penciled in ledgers or punched in computers, BIR’s role has always been to raise revenues that will finance the progress of our people and the advancement of our nation.
Today, 75 percent of government revenues that end up in pay envelopes of the government workers is collected by you.
And this 75 percent BIR financing share permeates every government activity: from roads built, medicine bought, and classrooms constructed.
This underscores one fundamental truth in governance: Without revenues, rhetoric does not become a reality; promises do not become projects; dreams remain on drawing boards.
Hindi lang po ng gobyerno, pero ng taumbayan, ng ordinaryong mamamayan.
For the truth is, when fiscal targets are not met, it is the people who pay for such failure.
Projects that would improve their lot today are denied of funding, creating a pile-up of debts that will be paid by our children tomorrow.
However, when revenue improvement is sustained, the needs of the people are met. This makes possible investments that spur economic growth, which in turn, creates jobs, improves income, and increases our people’s capacity to pay taxes.
This is the virtuous cycle we are championing.
And it is also the driving rationale behind the protection of the existing revenue base.
If businesses contribute their fair share, it fosters a level playing field, and removes the temptation to inflict higher consumption taxes on our people.
We can do this by leveraging digitalization in ways that promote ease of paying taxes.
That is why we have the BIR Digital Roadmap for 2024-2028 as our “Waze” on how we can arrive at our destination faster.
I am sticking to my guns that more revenues can be raised by simplifying, shortening, streamlining, and speeding up the process, without leaving the government shortchanged, than a slew of higher, newer tax laws.
Information technology, as it has been often said, should be deployed as liberation technology that makes the life of taxpayers easier, and not complicated.
Because complex payment processes, whether in bytes or in paper, remain a formidable firewall against tax obedience.
Kaya naman ginawa natin ang Online Registration Update System, ang Optimized Knowledge Management for Chatbot Review, ang Electronic One-Time Transaction System, among others, bilang haligi at pruweba ng kahusayan ng BIR ICT infrastructure.
Idagdag natin ang:
Electronic Invoicing and Receipt and Sales Reporting System. Online Withholding System. Taxpayer Ledger. Electronic Filing and Payment, and Submission Systems. Online Registration and Taxpayer Information Update System. Internal Revenue Integrated System.
Siguraduhin po natin na integrated at konektado ang mga ito para sa walang tigil na serbisyo sa ating mga taxpayers at sa mas mabisang pangagasiwa ng buwis.
However, in meeting its mandate, the BIR cannot do it alone.
It needs to engage in the fiscal equivalent of Balikatan with allied agencies such as the SEC and the BOC.
This united front is a must to plug loopholes that serve as a sanctuary for the non-compliant.
A major component of this is a web portal that allows the sharing of corporate electronic records with partner agencies for swifter verification of a company’s corporate information.
This partnership is key to the successful rollout of the law imposing VAT on digital services.
This, plus other capacity-building measures, will facilitate the implementation of forthcoming new tax laws.
Kasi alam naman po natin na madaling magsulat ng batas, pero mahirap magpatupad nito.
Tabletop tallying of projected collection is an exercise that is easy to do.
Turning this forecast into money is way harder.
That is why constant training of personnel, equipment boosts, welfare measures, and compensation adjustments all work to translate the prose of tax laws into actual tax pesos collected.
Sabi sa akin, banggitin ko daw ang Run After Fake Receipts sa aking speech. Tutal this is like a pep rally for the troops.
At ipaalala ang pagpapatingkad ng Run After Tax Evaders, Oplan Kandado, at ang Enhanced Nationwide Tax Compliance Verification Drive, at ilan pang integrity measures.
But to me, that is like preaching to the choir.
Kaya ang masasabi ko, patuloy lang, pero sa isang paraan na may respeto sa taumbayan at may pag-galang sa batas.
Muli, isang malugod na pagbati po sa 120th anniversary ng BIR.
Kumpiyansa ako na kayang-kaya niyong maabot ang inyong koleksyon ngayong taon at sa mga darating pang mga panahon.
Hindi pwedeng pumalya ang ating pagsisikap. Dahil ang pagkamit sa Bagong Pilipinas ay nakasalalay sa tagumpay ng BIR.
Maraming salamat po sa inyong pagsisikap at pagpupunyagi. Mabuhay po kayong lahat.
