Surplus campaign funds taxable–BIR

Any surplus from campaign funds that a candidate appropriates for himself becomes a taxable income that should be declared in the income tax return, according to Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Henares likened the unspent donation to a sudden manna, which the BIR taxes.

“The analogy there is, if you’re walking down the street, you saw one million pesos and you appropriate it for yourself. When you do that you should report it as your income,” Henares said yesterday at a press briefing at the Justice Department, following the BIR’s filing of tax evasion cases against two companies and a gold trader.