Purisima denies ‘tax delinquency’ allegation

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima on Tuesday denied the claim of a “malicious" text message that he has been a delinquent taxpayer — an allegation that initially surfaced during hearings at the Commission on Appointments (CA). “This is the farthest from truth. I have filed and paid my taxes religiously," Purisima said. The allegation, brought up during CA hearings, has repeatedly deferred Purisima’s confirmation as Finance secretary. The claim revolved around alleged discrepancies in his income tax returns and his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) from 2006 to 2009. In a statement, Purisima said that since he bolted the Arroyo administration in 2005, he has derived his income from “earnings in various investments" — which all are classified as “passive income" and are subject to final tax. “The reason that you cannot see the passive income in my ITR from 2006 to 2009 is that you don’t include passive income in ITR," Purisima explained. He said the last five years saw a boost in the figures in his SALN after his income from investments reached P100 million on average. “An income deriving from an investment is not the same income that is being declared in an ITR. They are simply not one and the same," Purisima said. He added that the ITRs do not show a person’s passive income — a problem that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has sought to remedy by devising a revenue regulation that seeks to capture data on final taxes. On Monday, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda dismissed the need for another investigation on the allegation against Purisima, as well as his wife, saying Purisima had sufficiently explained their case before the Commission on Appointments. — PE/VS, GMA News