The more than 9,000 officials and employees of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will most likely get hefty salary increases before the end of the year.
Revenue Deputy Commissioner for Legal Service Jesus Clint AraƱas made the optimistic forecast, citing the overwhelming support of congressional leaders to pass the proposed legislation removing the BIR salary schedule from the Salary Standardization Law.
AraƱas, who was tasked by BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay to shepherd the bill to Congress, said many lawmakers headed by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III are themselves authors of the measure.
AraƱas could not say how much increase taxmen should get to make them more efficient and honest but he suggested that the take home pay should be equalized with the pay received by personnel of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Records showed that BIR chief gets R117,000 monthly pay while his SEC counterpart receives close to P600,000.
(June Ramirez)