Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda wants to outlaw tax racketeering and at the same time make it a non-bailable offense. For this purpose, the House Committee on Ways and Means chairman penned and filed House Bill (HB) No.7653, or the proposed Act defining the crime of tax racketeering. The measure seeks to add Section 157-A to the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended. Salceda’s proposal s seeks to define the offense of tax racketeering as “any coordinated scheme or operation to repeatedly or consistently evade or defeat any tax imposed under this Code through the fraudulent use of receipts, returns, and other records, with a minimum amount of P10 million in taxes avoided or attempted to be avoided". He further described the scheme as the “large-scale use” of fraudulent or fictitious tax receipts to pad deductions or input tax credits. “According to estimates by tax authorities, as much as P100 billion in revenues are being evaded due to the padding of deductions and input tax credits through the systematic and fraudulent use of fake receipts and other records,” noted the economist-solon. Salceda cites that while the crime of tax evasion is punished under the Tax Code, it does not define the systematic and coordinated evasion of taxes, “which in every essential manner is economic sabotage, going by the doctrine that taxes are the lifeblood of the State". He argued that "schemes such as these should be distinguished from the usual attempt to evade taxes precisely because they constitute a systematic attempt to dismantle the credibility of the entire tax system, and could not be committed without networks of accomplices across the business sector and among tax authorities". “Because of the scale of their operations, unlike individual acts of tax evasion, systematic attempts to use fictitious transactions to evade taxes could completely undermine the tax system," he added. The bill also defines being a principal in such an offense as non-bailable, and subject to 17 to 20 years in prison. Taxpayers who benefit from tax racketeering, including those who purchase fake receipts, shall be punished as accessories under the measure.  Meanwhile, public officials who facilitate such activities shall be charged as accomplices and punished with perpetual disqualification from public office. “The stiffer penalties aim to be a deterrent to the commission of such crimes, as well as a tool for tax authorities to be able to prosecute such offenses in a manner distinct from usual tax evasion," the Bicolano said.