Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to launch a massive crackdown on mulcting officials and personnel, victimizing not just large corporations, but even small businesses.

“Marami sa ating mga maliliit na negosyante ay kinikikilan ng ilang hindi matitinong kawani ng gobyerno (Many of our small investors are being mulcted by corrupt government officials),” Gatchalian noted.

“Hindi ko nilalahat pero alam naman natin na meron tayong mga BIR officials na nangha-harass o tinataas ‘yung tax assessment para makahingi sila ng pera kapag nakiusap na babaan ang tax assessment (I’m not saying all but we all know that there are some BIR officials harassing or increasing tax assessment so they can ask for more money when somebody asks to lower their tax assessment),” Gatchalian said.

“Ito muna ang unahin natin, yung sugpuin iyong ganitong korapsyon (Let’s focus on this first, removing this kind of corruption),” he stressed.

The senator also urged the government to clampdown erring officials and employees of revenue collection agencies.

Instead of introducing new taxes to fund services and address the country’s P12.763-trillion debt as of April, Gatchalian said it would be more efficient to improve tax collection and fight corruption in government.

The lawmaker took note of the recent reports on alleged extortion cases involving BIR personnel in Ilocos Sur, Dipolog City and Zamboanga City as well as the purported “pabaon” scheme of some outgoing officials of the agency.

“Bago natin pag-usapan na taasan ang buwis o taasan ang mga singilin, dapat sugpuin muna natin ang korapsyon dahil ang makikinabang lang dyan ay ‘yung mga corrupt officials na tinataas naman ang mga pekeng assessments nila (Before we even consider increasing taxes or premiums, we should eradicate corruption first because corrupt officials who are faking assessments will take advantage of it),” the senator said.

“Dapat tuloy-tuloy lang ang laban natin sa korapsyon hanggang sa maayos ang sistema (the fight against corruption should be continuous until we are able to fix the system),” he added.

He said a drastic approach is needed to carry out an internal cleansing of the bureaucracy to rid government agencies of rotten eggs.

“If there’s political will, we can improve tax collection, build taxpayers’ trust in government and ensure increased revenue. People are willing to pay when they know that their taxes are well spent on services due them,” said Gatchalian.