OFFBEAT MAIL

House of Representatives, Philippines A lawmaker from the Second District of Valenzuela City in Metro Manila has proposed a bill that will ultimately give a tax-exemption privilege to eight-division boxing champion Manny Pacquiao. Initiated  and authored by Valenzuela City Cong. Magtanggol Gunigundo, the bill is meant to free Cong. Pacquiao from paying his tax liabilities to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). This issue has cropped up after BIR Commissioner Kim Henares slapped Pacquiao, who beat American-Mexican Brandon Rios in Macau for the WBO Welterweight Belt last Nov. 23, 2013, with a P2.2 billion in tax liabilities after he failed to settle them for the period covering tax years 2008 and 2009. Unable to compose himself, Pacquiao had resorted to ventilating his grievances through the media, saying that his lawyers already presented documents to prove that he paid his income tax liabilities in the United States.   But the BIR official didn't honor the document...

Individuals and businesses owed the federal government a combined total of US$373 billion in unpaid tax debts. Of this total, some US$258 billion are from individuals and US$115 billion from businesses, says a 2011 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO reported that some of these tax debts, ranging from US$5,000 to US$25,000 per debtor,  were in the collection process. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)already notified the tax debtors but some of them resorted to dispute, while others requested for installment agreements, both totalling at least $60 billion. Sadly, some US$110 billion of the total was classified by the IRS as uncollectable. "IRS files tax liens on some tax debts and these liens are public records that credit bureaus routinely pick up and add to their data. Over half of the total amount owed was subject to liens, cutting across the above categories," GAO said. According to GAO, these tax liens and debt data could be picked by ...