Tension and anxiety gripped the rank and file of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) over the weekend as Revenue Commissioner Sixto Esquivias IV resigned from his post Friday after barely a year in office.

The BIR chief could not be reached for comment on his decision to leave the bureau, the foremost tax collection arm of the government tasked to raise P798 billion this year.

Close aides, however, said the resignation was triggered by policy differences with top finance officials on issues like his plan to change procedures in the collection of excise tax from cigarette manufacturers and the reassignment of field officials to tax-rich regions and districts in Metro Manila.

It is common knowledge that Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has been critical of the bureau's collection performance, with an almost P39-billion shortfall during the first nine months of the year.

Revenue officials were quick, however, to deny the charges of inefficiency claiming they are still on target to meet their collection goals.

A top revenue official who declined to be named said it was Senior Revenue Deputy Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres who delivered Esquivias’ resignation letter to Teves Friday.

The finance chief has yet to act on the request.

BIR old-timers said the resignation was a deja vu for the BIR chief, recalling that he also left the BIR as deputy commissioner for legal service 10 years ago following policy differences with then Commissioner Dakila Fonacier.

Observers also pointed that that the stay of Esquivias in the bureau was tenuous, becoming more untenable when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile joined the camp of former President Joseph Estrada.

It was Enrile who requested President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to name Esquivias to the top BIR post.

Records showed that from January to September this year, some P557 billion was raised by the BIR, which is P39 billion short of its collection target of P596 billion for the period.

Revenue officials said the shortfall could be easily wiped out if fiscal authorities would readjust their collection target to a more realistic level by taking into consideration losses incurred as a result of tax-eroding laws like the reduction of income tax rates for both individual and corporate taxpayers.

They said the target also includes expected withholding taxes from the projected sale of government bonds by the Bureau of Treasury which did not materialize.

"The projected collection target did not take into account the worldwide financial crisis that adversely affected the local economy and, lately, the Luzon-wide devastation wrought by storms Ondoy and Pepeng,” one official said.