AS MILLIONS Filipino workers dutifully file their income tax returns, Senator Francis Pangilinan urged the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), to show fairness and collect the estimated P203-billion estate tax of the Marcoses.
He said in 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the Marcos family must pay P23 billion in estate tax, which became final in March 1999 as the entry of judgment showed. The debt remains unpaid and the amount has ballooned to P203 billion due to penalties and interests through the years,
The Department of Finance has said the estate taxes remain unpaid up to now. Pangilinan said there are no more contentious issues as to the need to pay because of the finality of the High Tribunal's ruling.
“Gustong makita ng ating mga kababayan na patas ang gobyerno sa pangongolekta ng buwis na dapat bayaran. Sa mga manggagawa, awtomatiko ang kaltas ng buwis, hindi man lang natin mahawakan ng buo ang sweldo. Kailangan, sa utang na buwis ng mga Marcos, hindi pwedeng nag-uusad-pagong ang gobyerno,” Pangilinan said.
The senator said the BIR or any concerned agencies involved in the collection of the tax should be transparent in their dealings with the Marcoses and the steps they intend to take to demand payment.
Even President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the BIR to collect the taxes. ABS-CBN also quoted Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez as saying that BIR, through Commissioner Caesar Dulay, confirmed that Duterte reminded the agency to collect the taxes.
“BIR is collecting and demanding payment from the Marcos Estate Administrators. They have not paid. BIR will continue to consolidate the titles in favor of the government on those properties which have been levied upon. The procedure may take time as it involves selling at public auction to convert to cash. Bottom line, Marcos does not take any steps to settle and pay because of pending litigation,” he said, referring to former senator Bongbong Marcos, who is running for president in the May election.
The BIR said it has sent the Marcos family a written demand to settle their estate tax liabilities.
GMA News also quoted former Presidential Commission on Good Government commissioner Ruben Carranza as telling the television network the tax law allows the BIR to file a criminal complaint against Marcos for willful non-payment of taxes. “Ibig sabihin ng willful, alam mong may utang ka, alam mong hindi ka nag bayad ng buwis pero ayaw mo talagang magbayad ng buwis,” he said.
Marcos’ spokesman, lawyer Vic Rodriguez insisted the tax liability is still pending in court and said the issue raised against the former senator was all politics, adding the ownership of the Marcos properties has yet to be settled.
He said: “It ss not a coincidence that rivals of presidential frontrunner Bongbong Marcos are raising this matter in unison a few weeks before the elections. Sadly, this is all about politics. Our rivals are misdirecting everyone by claiming that the case has attained finality when the truth of the matter is, it is still pending in court and the ownership of the properties in litigation has yet to be settled.”
Presidential aspirant and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno has repeatedly criticized Marcos for his failure to pay the estate taxes. The Philippine Daily Inquirer also quoted former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio during a 1Sambayan forum as saying that the Bureau of Internal Revenue should file a criminal case against the Marcos family over their “willfull refusal” to pay their estate tax liability.
“The BIR, if it wants now, can file a criminal case. And I think it’s time because it’s almost 25 years. Almost a quarter of a century they have not paid the tax. Ano pang iniintay ng BIR? File-an na nila ng criminal case. That’s the last thing that they can do. They should now file a criminal case,” Carpio said.
Carpio said that as co-administrators of the Marcos estate, Bongbong and his mother Imelda Marcos, are legally and primarily mandated by law to pay the estate tax before any heir, including themselves, can receive a single centavo from the Marcos estate. Citing the Tax Code, Carpio said Bongbong and his mother can be charged criminally by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Department of Justice under Section 255 of Tax Code for willful refusal to pay the estate tax of the Marcos estate.
“The refusal to pay the estate tax is willful because almost a quarter of a century since the estate tax was declared final and executory by the Supreme Court and still Marcos Jr. and Imelda Marcos have refused to pay a single centavo of the tax which now has ballooned to P203 billion due to interest,” Carpio said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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