Aimed at increasing state tax collections, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said the new administration will review the list of tax evasion cases.

In a briefing, BIR Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares, said Friday that she received a marching order from President Aquino to run after and to be very aggressive against tax evaders.

“It's not business as usual,” for tax evaders, Henares told reporters.

She also said programs like the BIR's Run After the Tax Evaders (RATE) program will be intensified.
Henares added the BIR, responsible for more than half of state revenues, will also seek ways to tax the informal sector, which she estimated accounts for about 40 percent of the economy.

President Aquino has pledged during his campaign that he will refrain from raising taxes, and instead pledged to go after tax evaders and corrupt officials to help narrow the budget shortfall.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima had said the national government could begin going after known tax evaders and corrupt tax collection officials in the next few weeks.

“This will be a full court press and we will be unrelenting until we achieve a tax effort that is commensurate with what the legal system provides for,” Purisima said.

Earlier, finance official said that the new government will review the tax incentives and other privileges given by former President Arroyo's administration to private companies.

Purisima said the Department of Finance (DoF) will coordinate with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to review these tax privileges.

But Purisima assured that the additional revenues will be used to finance the government's social services and in trimming the budget deficit, which is seen to reach P300 billion this year.

Under the Aquino administration, Purisima said it plans to reduce the country's budget deficit to 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the next three years.

Former Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, earlier urged Congress to enact revenue-enhancing measures to offset for the income lost due to the passage of several revenue-eroding measures.

To counter these tax-relief measures, Teves said the next government should review and raise the value-added tax, rationalize the fiscal incentives, restructure excise tax on sin products and simplify net income taxation.

Teves also suggested that the tax agencies Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs be exempted from the salary standardization law and reform taxation in the financial sector to level the playing field.