THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) needs to be set loose against those involved in corrupt public works projects, the Asian Consulting Group (ACG) said.
“People are angry; are already clamoring not to pay taxes, so civil disobedience (could be emerging). We do not support that; we want taxes to still be paid,” ACG Chief Tax Advisor Raymond Abrea told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the Arangkada Forum.
“But we want BIR to suspend their audits to focus their resources on running after these flood control project contractors, officials, and legislators,” he added.
He said that the end goal is to recover the stolen money, collect taxes on undeclared gains, and perpetually disqualify officials from public office.
He also said the corruption scandal presents an opportunity to clean house and improve the ease of doing business.
“Because they have been exposed, with this exposure comes the power of the citizen to participate and to really make their voices heard that they don’t want corruption but good governance,” he said.
“This is also what our investors like, so we can share proudly and honestly with the world that with citizen participation, we are really helping our government to promote good governance and transparency,” he added.
He said such measures can be better enforced by lifting bank secrecy rules and making political dynasties illegal. — Justine Irish D. Tabile