The country’s tax chief wants a review of the Salary Standardization Law to ensure compensation received by the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) employees match their efforts and are at par with other government agencies.
Caesar Dulay, BIR commissioner, said during the BIR’s national tax campaign kickoff if not a review, a new law may be passed to address the taxmen’s salaries.
Dulay said the salaries of the BIR employees pale in comparison to those of other government agencies.
“For example, the judiciary, the Public Attorney’s Office… (as) an example, the entry level of a lawyer in BIR is about P40,000 to P42,000. The entry level of a public attorney is somewhere around P60,000 to P65,000,” Dulay said.
In the same event, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the bureau must continue making progress in applying digital technologies to all its processes for greater transparency and convenience for its clients.
In his speech, Dominguez said due to the unexpected costs of the pandemic and lower revenue collections arising from a slowdown in economic activity, the budget deficit and debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratios have temporarily increased.
“But these remain manageable and we are determined to return quickly to fiscal consolidation. In fact, we have already formulated a program to limit the budget deficit and improve our debt-to-GDP ratio. This is part of our transition plan to the next administration,” Dominguez said.
He said essential to the fiscal consolidation program is the improvement of revenue collections to meet the government’s expenditure requirements.
“This year will be critical. We need to begin outgrowing our debt by restoring our high growth. To lead our strategy for quick recovery, we need to spend more on infrastructure modernization. We must invest more in our public health system and social services. We have to continue procuring vaccines for our people. We need to rebuild the communities damaged by severe weather events caused by climate change,” he added.
