Earthquake slows down tax collection

IT’S not easy to collect taxes when people are at their lowest and the staff are among those left homeless by the killer quake, according to Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) regional head Hermeno Palamine.

Palamine visited some of the affected revenue collection offices in Bohol. He said it was heartbreaking to see their offices in disarray – computers were damaged, tables were broken and some revenue collection offices were reduced to rubble.

“We cannot impose collection while our people are also busy rebuilding their homes,” says Palamine.

The BIR district office in Tagbilaran City has some cracks and need repair. Engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) declared their warehouse unsafe.

“Our revenue collection is very slow since the earthquake has affected the economy as it affects business community. Our mobility is also affected,” Palamine said.

For October this year, BIR-7 expected to collect P136 million. Compared to last year, there was an increase of 19 percent in tax collection from January to August.

“Our collection was running well until the earthquake happened. What is frustrating is that everything was in place and this incident happened,” Palamine said.

Palamine granted affected BIR employees furloughs to attend to their families’ needs. “For now, we are looking after the moral welfare of my employees,” he said.

The BIR regional office was among the displaced offices when the Mandaue City Public Market was damaged by the earthquake. They transferred to barangay Subangdaku. Senior Reporter Marian Z. Codilla