Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said President Duterte was only reminding the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to do its job and collect taxes following reports of a certain presidential candidate having unpaid estate taxes.
Andanar made this statement after Duterte said in his "Talk to the People" on Tuesday evening that he wanted to ask the BIR why the agency has not yet collected a certain estate tax.
In his press briefing on Wednesday, March 30, Andanar said Duterte's was merely a reminder for the BIR.
"The President only reminded the BIR to act on its mandate, and that is to collect taxes," he said.
The acting Palace spokesman added that the BIR should go after individuals not paying taxes, saying the government is short on funds.
"Hindi lang sa kung sinong politiko o personalidad (Not just politicians but any personality)," he said.
"Dapat sa lahat ng personalidad na hindi nagbabayad ay dapat habulin ng BIR sapagkat kailangan ng karagdagang pondo ng ating national government (The BIR should go after any personality who are not paying their taxes because the national government needs the additional fund)," he added.
In his recorded public address on Tuesday evening, President Duterte mentioned the only thing the government can do in cases, such as unpaid estate taxes.
"Sa taxation natin, so ang gobyerno can only prod. Hindi naman kailangan ng reminder sa Malacañang (In our taxation, the government can only prod. A reminder from Malacañang is not necessary)," he said.
"Nandiyan yung BIR so tanungin natin yang BIR bakit hanggang ngayon hindi nakolekta yung estate tax (The BIR is there so let's ask them why they still haven't collected the estate tax)," he added.
The talk about uncollected estate tax surfaced after it was revealed that the BIR, in December 2021, sent a demand letter to the Marcoses to pay their estate tax dues which grew to P203 billion from about P23 billion in 1997. Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is currently eyeing the presidency.