Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said he is keen on crafting a law that would impose additional tax on the country’s richest individuals noting how many of them are not even included in the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) top income taxpayers.
Gatchalian, who is poised to head the Senate Committee on Ways and Means in the 19th Congress, noted that the names that emerge in the country’s billionaires’ list do not automatically appear in the top taxpayers list.
“Kung makikita natin, yung mga lumalabas na billionaires list, tapos sinu-sino ang mga pangalan doon. Wala sa mga pangalan ang top taxpayers natin (If you see, those names that are in the billionaire’s list, you will see so many names listed there. Many of these names do not appear in the list of our top taxpayers),” Gatchalian said in an interview on Radio DZBB.
“Normally, ang mga top taxpayers natin mga TV personality, movie personality dahil sobra silang high profile na dapat sila ang nauunang nakikita ng BIR para pagbayarin ng tax. Pero yung nasa billionaire's list wala tayong makikita doon (Normally our top taxpayers are TV personalities, or movie personalities because they are super high profile that the see that the BIR see them as their first target who should be paying their tax. But we can’t see any of those in the billionaire’s list),” he pointed out.
“At doon ka magtataka dahil bilyonaryo sila pero wala sila sa top taxpayers list. Meron talagang dapat ayusin sa sistema natin para yung may kaya o yung mayayaman ay mas mataas ang babayaran nila. Yun ang konsepto na tinatawag nating progressivity, kung sino ang may kayang magbayad ay dapat mas malaki ang kanyang babayaran (And that is what’s questionable. Because they are billionaires and yet they are not in the top taxpayers list. We really need to fix something in our tax system so that those who are wealthy and can afford should be made to pay more. That’s the concept of progressivity; whoever has much should be taxed higher),” he pointed out.
He cited as an example are the names released in the Forbes list where they release the names of the top 20 richest individuals in the Philippines.
“At yun ang nakakapagtaka dahil kahit sila ang pinakamayayaman na pamilya sa ating bansa, pero hindi naman nasa top taxpayers. Kaya meron talaga tayong dapat tignan para yung mga mayayaman o yung mga may kayang magbayad ay dapat mas malaki ang kanilang dapat bayaran (And that is what is puzzling because even though they are the richest families in our country, but they are not in the top taxpayers list. That’s why we really need to look into that so those who are wealthy or who are capable should pay higher taxes),” he pointed out.
But as of now, Gatchalian said he is still studying how to craft the measure that aims to properly tax the richest in the country. According to him, most of them actually earn little from their company but are getting much from dividends.
“Typically, yung mga mayayaman o may kaya sa dividendo kumikita yan. Dahil ang kanilang sweldo naman ay maliliit lang pero ang dividendo nila ay malalaki, yun ang titignan natin. Dapat yung dividendo na ibibigay mas mataas po ang buwis na ipapataw doon (the rich earn from dividends. Because their income is small, but their dividends are huge, so we will look into that. We need to tax them from their dividends),” he said.
“Correct. Dahil karamihan ng mga mayari ng negosyo maliit lang naman ang kanilang sweldo eh pero ang kanilang dividendo malalaki dahil sila ang mayari ng negosyo. Titignan natin ang buwis na ipinapataw doon sa dividendo (Because many of those who own businesses actually do not have a high income, but their dividends are huge because they are the ones who own the company. So let us see how much we can tax in their dividends),” the senator further said.