By VENUS MAY H. SARMIENTO
PIA-Dagupan Infocenter

THE Bureau of Internal Revenue in Region I is the nationwide topnotcher in collection, percentage- wise, a top BIR official revealed.

A total collection of P5,054,409,851.41 from the region’s six revenue district offices as of September 29, 2006 surpassed its P4 billion collection goal—or an equivalent of 50,12% increase. It was enough to land the region in first place in collection of performance.

BIR Regional Director Alfredo Balicanta, speaking at the weekly Patrima Kapihan held at the Philippine Information Agency office last Thursday and aired over DZMQ Radyo ng Bayan Dagupan, was overjoyed with the feat and attributes the success to all the taxpayers in the region.

“The success of tax collection is credited to the taxpayers,” Balicanta said. “The awareness of taxpayers of their duties and obligations to pay their taxes contributed to the success”.

Throughout region 1, Revenue district no. 5 or the Alaminos City district office in Pangasinan posted the highest collection with P2,302,987,253.30. It was a big jump from its P3 million collection last year, to notch a soaring increase of 613.59%.

Assessment Division chief Beverly Milo said the Alaminos RDO success can be attributed to the huge tax payment of Mirant Power Corporation located in Sual town which is operated by a foreign company.

The Calasiao district office (Pangasinan) which had the highest collection in 2005, only came second this time as of end September with a P740,060,422.22, Milo added.

Placing third is San Fernando City district office in La Union with P600,862,178.92 collection. Vigan City in Ilocos Sur ranks fourth with 506,257,653.28 followed closely by Urdaneta City office in Pangasinan with 502,504,901.47. At the bottom of the six district offices is Laoag City in Ilocos Norte with P401,737,442.17 collection.

Balicanta, however, said his office is not resting on its laurels. BIR is now concentrating on other programs and projects to increase its collection.

The enhanced tax mapping operations is seen as one way to increase collection performance. This tax verification campaign goes down to the barangay level.

While it is true that business, big or small, mushroom everywhere, only a few are registered, he said. Many business operators also do not secure the necessary permits from their local governments.

“For the record, Balicanta said, “there are only about 350,000 registered taxpayers in the region, to include individuals and businesses.”

The BIR chief said his office is also bent on intensifying public information about deficiency taxes. Penalties and surcharges are added up to unregistered or late-registered business, thus, the public is encouraged to pay taxes on time and in the right amounts, he said.