Finance Secretary Margarito Teves asked the Congress on Monday to pass a law substantially increasing the take-home pay of tax collectors at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to at least minimize corruption among its rank and file.

Teves made the request when he addressed BIR officials and employees on the occasion of the bureau's 205th founding anniversary.

Teves cut short his trip to the US -- he was with President Arroyo -- to be able to attend the affair.

"I believed that good governance will further be encouraged if we will be able to convince our lawmakers to exempt the BIR from the Salary Standardization Law," Teves said.

He said it is just fair that the BIR should be removed from the standard wage umbrella because "it is a profit center of the government generating roughly 70 percent of its revenues."

The finance chief stressed that BIR personnel should be compensated well to be able to make them efficient and honest and to attract the best and brightest to join the revenue service.

He pointed out, however, that low salary should never be an excuse for lame performance.

Camarines Norte Rep. Liwayway Venzon-Chato, vice chairperson of the ways and means committee and a former BIR commissioner, said she supports Teves’ proposal, which she described as just and timely.

BIR insiders said the proposal was not new, recalling that then revenue chief Jose U. Ong brought up the idea during his stint in the bureau. But the plan never materialized.

Ong's proposal required an additional outlay of P1 billion to augment the pay of workers in both the BIR and Bureau of Customs.

Ong then justified the pay raise as necessary not only to deter corruption but in view of the role of the two agencies as the government's prime revenue-generating bodies.

For his part, BIR Commissioner Sixto Esquivias IV vowed to support the move and asked the men and women of the service to write letters to their congressmen and senators to request their endorsement of the measure.

Esquivias also distributed plaques of appreciation to corporate taxpayers, including San Miguel Corporation, Philip Morris Philippines, and the Philippine Foremost Milling Corp.

The top individual taxpayer award went to television host Wilfredo "Wowowee" Revillame while the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas got the top award for government-owned and control coprporations.