Failure to file tax returns when taxes are already withheld is not a crime involving moral turpitude

UNTIL now, there are still many people who argue that failure to file tax returns is a crime that involves moral turpitude. There are many ways to evaluate the correctness of this claim, but what I have done is to apply a very simple method that we use in qualitative textual analysis, which is genealogical/discursive. The focus is not just the text itself, but its beginnings and development, as well as the inherent logic that drove its transformation.

The Tax Code of the Philippines is not a single piece of legislation, but is actually a progression from its parent material, Commonwealth Act 466, or the "Tax Code of 1939." In Section 73 thereof, non-payment of tax and non-filing of tax returns were already punished by a fine of not more than P2,000 or imprisonment of no more than six months, or both.