WHAT can be government do to avoid a repeat of the Balamban land tax scam?
Some proposals include authorizing more banks to accept land tax payments and restoring a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) field office in the west coast town.
The proposals were discussed by BIR assessment section chief Cesar Padilla who visited Mayor Ace Stefan Binghay last Friday to secure copies of documents on the land tax scam for the BIR’s own ongoing inquiry.
Balamban municipal councilor David Karamihan said the visiting BIR chief also met some councilors and the mayor to explore ways to work together to prevent a recurrence.
“Part of the reason that this happened is the difficulty in paying taxes. People have to go to Mandaue City. Allegedly there are individuals who take advantage of this,” said Karamihan.
He said having more depository banks or a BIR field officer in Balamban would enable taxpayers to make payments of capital gains tax themselves rather than using facilitators or fixers.
BIR Regional Director Jose Tan said he ordered the chief of Revenue District Office 80 in Mandaue City, whose area covers Balamban town, to investigate the irregularity.
Several lot owners earlier went to the BIR office in Mandaue City to verify their Land Bank of the Philippines BIR Bank Deposit slips only to find out that the payments were never remitted to the BIR.
The Balamban council invited Provincial Assessor engineer Anthony Sususco to clarify the status on the validity of the tax declaration document during their investigation along with Balamban municipal assessor Tita Yray and clerks Sharee Melgar and Lucille Agua.
“If the CSC (Civil Service Commission) wants a copy of the documents, we can provide them with a copy. These are public documents,” Karamihan said.
He said Yray, Melgar and Agua had yet to signify their participation in today’s council session.
But Yray’s lawyer Bernardito Florido said his client won’t be appearing in the session. Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus