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THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it can only comply with the
plan of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to tap the central bank for
the collection of excise tax on the sale of gold by small-scale
miners if there is an enacted law.
“This is not our core function, but if such a
law would be enacted, we would comply,” BSP Gov. Amando M.
Tetangco Jr. said in an e-mail sent to reporters.
In a draft revenue regulation, Finance Secretary
Margarito B. Teves had said the BIR wants central bank’s
participation in ensuring that excise taxes are properly collected.
“BSP, as a government-owned and controlled
corporation, holds a preeminent position of having full information
relative to the amount of sales generated by these small-scale
miners in their production of gold,” the document read. Any sale
of gold to BSP is subject to the excise tax rate of 2 percent based
on the actual market value of the gross output.
Teves said prescribing such mode of tax
collection is very well within the realm of the authority of the
Department of Finance and the BIR. Horacio C. Ramos, Mines and
Geosciences Bureau chief, said small-scale miners are considered a
major dollar-earner as they contribute huge amount of money to the
national economy.
In 2006, small-scale mining produced 3.5 metric
tons of gold amounting to P3 billion. In the first six months of
last year, the country’s total gold production fell 1 percent to
18,680 kilograms from 18,949 kilograms, valued at P19.3 billion.
-- Chino S. Leyco
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