Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has reminded the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that revenue collections must see sustained improvements through digitalization in order to help the government meet the people’s needs and further grow the economy.

“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,” he said in his keynote speech at the BIR’s 120th Anniversary on August 1, 2024.

“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,” Secretary Recto added.

The Finance Chief reiterated his call to leverage digitalization to promote the ease of paying taxes, citing the BIR’s Digital Roadmap for 2024-2028 as a guide on how to achieve their goal.

“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,” he said.

Secretary Recto asserted that information technology should be deployed as liberation technology that makes the life of taxpayers easier, as complex payment processes discourage tax obedience.

Which is why he encouraged the BIR to keep up its digitalization initiatives and implement the Online Registration Update System; the Optimized Knowledge Management for Chatbot Review; and the Electronic One-Time Transaction System, among others to prove its capabilities in ICT infrastructure.

“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,” Secretary Recto said.

Apart from these, the Finance Chief stressed the importance of stronger coordination between government agencies through data-sharing to create a united front in plugging tax leakages and loopholes.

The recently established Swift Corporate and Other Records Exchange (SCORE) Protocol––a pilot project of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the BIR, allows the swift sharing of data and empowers the Bureau to harmonize records of registered corporations to enhance tax collection efficiency.

Secretary Recto affirmed that the partnership is key to the successful rollout of the proposed imposition of value-added tax (VAT) on digital services.

Moreover, this system along with other capacity-building measures will facilitate the implementation of new tax laws in the future.

“Kasi alam naman po natin na madaling magsulat ng batas, pero mahirap magpatupad nito,” Secretary Recto said.

Finally, he reminded the BIR to strengthen their human capital by continuously training personnel, boosting equipment, increasing welfare measures, and making compensation adjustments to be successful in their mission.

Secretary Recto tasked the BIR to collect PHP 3.05 trillion this year, or a daily collection of PHP 8.2 billion or PHP 342.5 million per hour.

This translates to a capita revenue production per employee of PHP 191.5 million pesos annually, at least starting this year.

“Hindi pwedeng pumalya ang ating pagsisikap. Dahil ang pagkamit sa Bagong Pilipinas ay nakasalalay sa tagumpay ng BIR,” the Finance Chief said.