President Duterte has urged suspected tax evaders to pay their correct taxes or they will be subjected to police visit, much like “Oplan Tokhang,” a campaign launched by the Philippine National Police to stop the drug menace in the country.
In his speech during a visit to a military camp in Samar province, Mr. Duterte said he would ask Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay to provide him a list of suspected tax evaders who will be visited by the police.
“I will send the police to see you and ask why you have not been paying taxes. I will ask the media to accompany the police, so the police can ask in front of the media why you [tax evaders] are not paying your taxes and why you are deceiving the Republic of the Philippines,” Mr. Duterte said.
There’s no official estimate of government’s foregone revenues from tax evasion. However, former Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares has been quoted as saying 90 percent of Filipino professionals are tax evaders.
Currently, there are around 1.7 million self-employed professionals in the country who paid a total of P9.8 billion in taxes in 2010, or an average of only P5,764. The BIR said in 2011 professionals, based on their income levels, should each be paying P100,000 in taxes on the average, indicating a 90-percent tax-evasion rate among doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects and entertainers, among others.
President Duterte said those who would end up in Dulay’s list of suspected tax evaders will also be put in the watch list of the Bureau of Immigration to restrict their right to travel as a consequence of being a tax-evasion suspect.
“If you’re rich and you don’t pay the correct taxes, you cannot travel anymore. I will tell the immigration to stop you because you committed a violation. I will order the BIR to file cases and once it’s pending in court, the freedom of movement is restricted,” Mr. Duterte said.
He said those facing criminal charges are not allowed to travel, and suspected tax evaders should not be treated differently. However, President Duterte promised that there would no longer be any harassment from the BIR if a taxpayer is found to be tax compliant.
“Criminals should not be allowed to leave, including tax evaders, because it’s always a crime if you do not pay your taxes correctly. But if you pay what is assessed then I will never allow anybody to disturb you,” he said.
Mr. Duterte said his administration needs the foregone revenues from tax evasion to fund the billions of pesos required to build massive rehabilitation centers for the thousands of drug dependents who have surrendered since he came into power.
President Duterte earlier said he would send drug addicts to military installations for rehabilitation, as government-run rehabilitation centers throughout the country no longer have room for some 170,000 drug pushers and addicts who voluntarily surrendered to the police.
The President said the use of the military camps as rehabilitation facilities for drug addicts will be temporary and will only be done until the government can build the needed rehabilitation centers.
The drug addicts and pushers surrendered or were arrested under Oplan Tokhang, a campaign launched by the Philippine National Police to stop the drug menace in the country.
“Tokhang” is a combination of two Visayan words for “knock” and “plead.” The police knock on the houses of suspected drug users and pushers and urge them to stop selling or using drugs.
In a recent speech, the President quoted figures from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency saying there are about 3 million illegal drug users all over the country.
Unless the country is rid of illegal drugs, hopefully, within six months, the Philippines could become a narcotics state, Mr. Duterte said.