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'Do not corrupt us,' BIR chief tells public

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<figure class="op-social"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yEj7Z-feMnk" width="420"></iframe></figure>MANILA - Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay has appealed to the public to stop bribing tax collectors as he moved to stamp out corruption in the agency.Dulay is at the helm of the government&#x27;s chief revenue collection agency that was tagged by President Rodrigo Duterte as among the most corrupt in the bureaucracy.&quot;Please do not corrupt us. Corruption is two ways,&quot; Dulay told ANC&#x27;s Nancy Irlanda, echoing a call made earlier by his Cabinet colleague, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade.Dulay said he would fight corruption in the BIR by instilling &quot;discipline,&quot; consistent with Duterte&#x27;s tough leadership style.&quot;What I want to see is that if I raise more, the money we’ll get will go downstream to the people, to the poor,&quot; he said.Dulay said the BIR loses around P5 billion to corruption, mainly from agents who allow some people to under-declare their liabilities.Losses from the racket, Dulay said, represent around three percent of total collections.&quot;You can see it as a very, very big impact when you translate it into monetary terms because it could reach billions of pesos. In these transactions, maybe 10, 20 percent goes to the government; the rest goes to the pockets,&quot; he said.<div>BAD EGGS</div>Following Duterte&#x27;s style, Dulay said he would observe the character of BIR personnel closely to weed out the corrupt ones.“The bad eggs know who they are, and I think they should be expecting some action from me, the commissioner, along the lines of what the president said.&quot;A performance evaluation was underway while pending administrative cases were being reviewed. Positions will be reshuffled, he said.&quot;If they’re there, then they have to explain because there are a lot of administrative cases pending in the bureau,&quot; he said.News of a reshuffle has triggered lobbying among BIR personnel, he said, adding, &quot;There’s graft all over.&quot;Dulay said he recalled some of the last directives of his predecessor, Kim Henares and more contracts and issuances were under review.

Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay has appealed to the public to stop bribing tax collectors as he moved to stamp out corruption in the agency.