The House of Representatives on Wednesday adopted a resolution filed by House Majority Leader and Leyte Rep. Martin G. Romualdez and Deputy Majority Leader and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo commending the Bureau of Internal Revenue for efficient tax collection, surpassing by 15 percent its target for 2020 despite the economic challenges brought by the coronavirus disease-19 pandemic.
In House Resolution 1538, Romualdez and Arroyo praised BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay and the entire economic team of President Rodrigo Duterte led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez for their hard work to help the economy recover from COVID-19.
Romualdez and Arroyo said the BIR had collected a total of P1.94 trillion last year, exceeding its goal of P1.69 trillion or an excess of 15 percent or P255.19 billion over the target.
“The Bureau of Internal Revenue has exceeded its tax collection target for the Fiscal Year 2020 despite the crippling effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the national economy,” Romualdez and Arroyo said.
As Commissioner Dulay reported, Romualdez said, the last time the BIR hit its goal was in 2001 and 2003.
“BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay’s decisive leadership and together with the entire economic team of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, has steered the Bureau to surpass its fiscal target through the sustained implementation of various fiscal measures aimed at improving the tax collection efficiency of the national government, such as the strict implementation of the Taxpayer Account Management Program, monitoring of tax remittances, and escalation of tax awareness learning activities at the local level despite the global health crises brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic,” they said.
Romualdez, chairman of the House committee on rules, and Arroyo, chairman of the House committee on energy, said the “members of the House of Representatives, acting together, were duty-bound to not only nominally recognize but also meaningfully support extraordinary acts that redound to the benefit of the whole country.