MANILA, Philippines – The proposed lifting of the bank secrecy law being pushed by Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares has found an ally in Senator Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate committee on banks.
“I have always been in favor of lifting it but I can never get it passed here,” Osmeña told reporters on Tuesday.
Sen. Sergio Osmeña III. FILE PHOTO
The senator agreed that lifting the bank secrecy law would help improve tax collection as well as the government’s fight against tax fraud.
Going after tax evaders, Osmeña said, was more difficult in the Philippines because of existing laws compared with other countries.
“In our country, when you say I’m violating the law, you have to prove it. When you say I’m evading taxes, you have to prove it. In America, it’s the other way around. When they say you’re evading taxes, I have to prove that I earn it and how did I earn it so mas madali dun (it’s easier there),” he said.
But while he favors the lifting of the bank secrecy law, Osmeña said he would rather wait for the House of Representatives to take the lead.
“I want them to pass it in the House first because kung dadalhin nila sa Senado ipapasa namin dito tapos wala namang mangyayari sa House, e di waste of time yun,” he said.
(I want them to pass it in the House first because if you bring it in the Senate and we pass it here then nothing will happen in the House, it will just be a waste of time.)
But Senator Grace Poe, an administration ally, maintained that the proposal should be studied first to balance the interest of the public and the government’s desire to improve tax collections.
“Kasi nga, yung trabaho ng BIR commissioner is to exhaust all means to collect taxes. On the other hand, government agencies should also be able to balance the interest of the public as a whole,” Poe said in a separate interview.
“So in our desire to be able to collect taxes, are we violating the rights of others? Are we making another sector jittery, for example, the investors of our country if our bank secrecy laws are loosened?” she further said.
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