BIR pushes shame campaign vs doctors

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is continuing its shame campaign against doctors.

In its latest Tax Watch campaign advertisement, the BIR said three out of eight doctors in Cebu and Davao declared less income tax than the average public school teacher in 2012.

The ad showed that more than half or 52 percent of the 2,825 registered taxpayer doctors in Cebu paid less than P27,360, the income tax of an average public school teacher with an annual salary of P222,552.

In Davao, about 54.3 percent or 1,307 of 2,406 registered taxpaying doctors did not file income tax returns and 19.3 percent paid less income taxes than that of a teacher.

A total of 1,150 Cebu doctors or 40.7 percent had no record of declaring their income tax dues.

Next to zero, P24.50 is the lowest declared income tax by doctors in Cebu and P19 in Davao.

Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

The BIR came out with the ad despite doctors’ outrage over a newspaper ad that earlier came out suggesting that medical practitioners are not paying the right taxes.

The controversial ad showed a doctor riding on the shoulders of a struggling teacher, drawing the ire of medical professionals.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares, however, said the ad merely stated a fact based on the tax returns filed by doctors and teachers and that it was not meant to single out medical practitioners.

The doctor supposedly earned P1.07 million in income but remitted only P7,424 in taxes to the government while the teacher paid more than P221,000 in taxes on an annual income of P852,169.

Henares urged the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) to strictly police its ranks as she justified the ad showing the huge disparity in income tax payments between doctors and teachers.

She said the PMA should make sure all its members are issuing receipts and complying with their tax obligations amid reports that several doctors continue to engage in unethical practices.

She also took a swipe at the PMA for failing to discipline or impose sanctions on its erring members.

PMA president Leo Olarte assured the BIR that the PMA would “not tolerate tax cheats among our ranks and we will act immediately if these isolated cases can be brought formally to our attention.”

Olarte appealed to the BIR to “temper” its tax watch campaign and refrain “from engaging in tactics that can be viewed as irritants and divisive to both our organization’s common goals in nation-building.”

“The doctors will pay their taxes, just give them the proper inspiration and consider them as a group of professionals who are very much willing to help this country,” he added.

Henares said the ad is part of the BIR’s shame campaign aimed at boosting state revenues.

The BIR is tasked to collect P1.46 trillion this year, 19.67 percent higher than the P1.22 trillion revenue generated in 2013.

Income tax, amounting to P855.77 billion, will continue to account for the bulk of BIR’s revenue goal. The amount represents 58.6 percent of the total. –Zinnia de la Peña (The Philippine Star)