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By Chino S. Leyco, Reporter
THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has
submitted a list of collection officers qualified for attrition
after they failed to meet promised goals, the Department of Finance
said.
In a document, the Finance department said BIR
Commissioner Lilian B. Hefti recommended 51 names of revenue
district officers qualified for attrition, including their
assistants, after they missed by more than 7.5 percent their target
for last year.
Under the Lateral Attrition Law, BIR and Customs
officials who fall short of their collection targets by at least 7.5
percent would be dismissed from service, while over performers would
be given a collective incentive amounting to 15 percent of the
excess collection if the surplus is 30 percent or below, and 15
percent of the first 30 percent plus 20 percent if they surpass
collections by 30 percent.
The BIR, which accounts for 70 percent of the
government’s revenues, has posted a 7-percent shortfall at
P712.098 billion against the programmed goal of P765 billion last
year. Despite the bureau’s failure, the government managed to trim
its budget deficit to P9.4 billion, much lower than the original
ceiling of P63 billion.
The BIR is under pressure to increase its
collection in line with the government’s plan to ramp up spending
and provide a cushion to the adverse impact of high inflation and a
slowdown in the Philippines’ export market, the US.
The government is also hard-pressed to narrow
its budget deficit and balance its budget by 2010 at the latest to
attain the much-coveted credit rating upgrade. The upgrade would
allow the Philippines to enjoy lower rates when borrowing abroad,
and would open the country to foreign investors whose charters
prevent them from placing money in a market that is dubbed as below
investment grade or junk.
The government had been eyeing to wipe out its
deficit this year, but economic difficulties caused by skyrocketing
prices of oil and rice, as well as the US slowdown, forced the
Philippines to put off its balanced-budget goal to 2010.
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