Critics of campaign tax told: Go to Comelec, not the media

Critics of the proposed tax on campaign contributions should voice their complaints to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and not to the media, the poll body said Thursday. Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, one of the poll body officials tasked to review the proposal, said that “surprisingly," even though there has been much opposition to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) regulation, no one has talked to the tax agency about it. “I believe some have approached media and expressed their opinion, I wish they would also share their views with the Comelec because it will be Comelec and BIR who will implement that proposal," Larrazabal told GMA News in an interview on Thursday. Earlier, the BIR said it will impose a five-percent tax on contributions to political campaigns. [See: Candidates, political parties to pay tax on contributions.] It came out with Revenue Regulation No. 8-09, which will require all political candidates, parties and contributors to effect a five-percent withholding tax on their campaign expenditures and contributions. The new regulation will also require all political candidates, parties and candidates to register with the BIR as a withholding agent.
FOR GMANEWS.TV'S 2010 ELECTION COVERAGE, VISIT YOURVOX Since the BIR came out with the tax scheme, however, several political leaders have expressed their opposition to it, saying it was uncalled for and was in fact unconstitutional. [See: NPC, NP execs reject tax on campaign funds.] But Larrazabal said that according to the explanation of the BIR, no law is needed to enforce the regulation. “As I understand from the explanation of the BIR, they don’t need a new law to be passed, I believe there’s a debate regarding that idea," he said. He did say, however, that Comelec has already given its input to the BIR when senior deputy commissioner Joel Tan-Torres, who was named officer-in-charge of the tax agency after Commissioner Sixto Esquivias IV quit his post, met with Comelec Chairman Jose Melo last week. “We’ll just wait for the final decision of the BIR if they could and would implement the proposal," he said, adding that they are just waiting for the BIR to get back to them. If the proposal pushes through, Larrazabal said the poll body’s role will just be to assist the tax bureau in the collection of the expenditure reports and other documentary proof that the candidates have in fact paid the five-percent tax. “It’s tedious but it will assist the government in monitoring expenses," the commissioner said. Larrazabal said the candidates will be asked to pay the tax on expenditures incurred during the campaign period as prescribed by the Comelec, and which will be based on the statement of expenditures to be filed after the elections. “The BIR will base their collection on the reports submitted to the Comelec no matter what those reports would be. If (the candidate) declares in his statement of expenditures that he only spent this much, the BIR will take it as face value," he said. He stressed, however, that the BIR will not be imposing an additional tax burden on the candidates or on the suppliers. He said they are just going to “shift" the burden of payment from the suppliers to the candidates. - GMANews.TV