Pay your taxes

I got an invitation from the Bureau of Internal Revenue for a press conference tomorrow at its office at the PNB building. The invitation was made by Regional Director Rodita Galanto. BIR is launching a campaign for tax collection.

I believe it is every citizens duty to pay his taxes. The services that government renders us are financed by taxes.

The biggest problem, however, among taxpayers is the complaint that they pay their taxes only to be stolen by corrupt people in government.

I believe we must perform our obligation. Then we have all the right to demand honest service. What right have we to complain and even raise placards for the President to resign when we do not perform our own obligation?

Yes, even against BIR people. If you have evidence against BIR people, give them to me. Because I am a strong supporter of the BIR and its campaign for payment of taxes, I have more reasons to see to it they do not fool around with the taxes we pay.

But, first things first, pay your taxes.

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I believe BIR must fully utilize media in its tax campaign. And if they can convince Bishop Vicente Navarra and other religious denominations, ask them to help too. They are more influential.

I don’t see reasons why media will not help. Last year, I worked together with Revenue District Officer in Bacolod, Sweet Rios. I don’t see problems with local BIR people. The perception of corruption is national.

I can see BIR people now see the importance of media. They cannot make a successful campaign without media support. But more than this short campaign, BIR must undertake to educate the public on the importance of taxes.

And BIR must show to all it does not pay to evade taxes. In other countries, tax people are feared. Here, the common belief is tax collection is governed by two laws, “Areg law” and “Rega law.” The first means fixing and the second means gifting.

To get back to my main theme, pay your taxes. And to BIR, jail tax evaders.

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Just one caution to BIR, be careful to tangle with poets. I recall an anecdote about an English poet by the name of Hock. I hope I got it right.

He had guests at home, fellow poets. They were having a session on witty poetic improvisations when a tax collector came. He asked the tax man, a Mr. Winter, for him to finish his session with his friends first.

When he was through, he let the tax man in and handed him his witty improvisation, “Here comes Mr. Winter, collector of taxes,/ I advise you to pay him whatever he axes,/ Excuses won’t do, he stands no sort of flummery,/ Though Winter his name is, his presence is summary.”

Then, Hock paid. I got this from a lost book on anecdotes.

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Talking of other witty lines, I recall from that same book about the famous French novelist and poet, Alexander Dumas, author of “The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo”.

Dumas was a guest one night of a Dr. Gistal who was a famous physician in Marsailles. Gistal was from Paris.

After dinner, Gistal asked Dumas if he could enrich his album with a witty line or two or a stanza. Dumas, a witty poet himself wrote while Gistal was standing over his shoulders.

“Since Dr. Gistal came to town,/ To cure diseases new and hereditary;/ The hospital was torn down…”

At this point Gistal tapped Dumas on the shoulder and complained, “You flatterer, you…” Dumas then finished the stanza.

“And was built a bigger cemetery.”

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Talking further of witty poets, an English poet, I forgot his name, was promised a pension by the Queen. After a long wait, he could not resist that he wrote a poem. “I was promised on a time,/ To have reasons for my rhyme;/ Since then unto this season,/ I never received rhyme nor reason.”

He got his reasons, his pension. That’s how the word “reasons” is used. The ZTE-NBN deal went through for 130 million reasons.

I go back to my theme today, pay your taxes PROMPTLY.

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Our papers and airlines are full of news about the so-called “Budol Bodol” gang swindling people.

Remember, only the greedy become the victims of swindlers. That victim of a P200,000 swindle was greedy as she wanted to earn P200,000 through magic. Magic? It’s greed that makes one agree to have one’s money doubled through magic.

Other victims of swindling agree to a very profitable transaction. Oh, so many of them. Police should publish the nature of how some people are victimized by swindling. You will find the cause is greed. That’s where swindlers thrive on, greed.

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Feedback: I want to thank a reader who texted me Caesar is a title but the name is Julius Augustus. And to my friend Robert Leonard Strause who said he liked my interest in sports to have sports writers cover political events.

Americans are baseball buffs. He said, he wanted that in this controversy someone makes a “homerun.”*

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