MANILA // The Philippines’ taxman has long struggled to compel the country’s elite pay their fair share, but a name-and-shame campaign targeting one of history’s greatest boxers and other celebrities is aiming to change that.
A crusade against wealthy Filipinos is part of President Benigno Aquino’s high-profile effort to curb tax evasion throughout all sectors of society, a central plank of his quest to fight widespread corruption.
The boxing hero Manny Pacquiao became the latest to be caught in the crosshairs when the Bureau of Internal Revenue froze his bank accounts last week for refusing to pay a US$50-million (Dh183.5m) tax bill related to earnings in the ring in 2008 and 2009.
The boxer says he has already paid the required taxes in the United States and paying in the Philippines would equate to double taxation.
While the champion appeared stunned and claimed he was being harassed, it was in fact just the latest strike by the revenue bureau since Mr Aquino came to power in 2010 that has targeted hundreds of rich or famous Filipinos.
“When ordinary people see that we are going after popular and well-known figures ... it drives home the point that paying taxes is a civic duty,” said Claro Ortiz, who runs the bureau’s Run After Tax Evaders (Rate) campaign.
The revenue bureau has so far filed criminal complaints or charges against 200 wealthy Filipinos it accuses of avoiding a combined 44.45 billion pesos (Dh3.53bn) in taxes.
Pacquiao, who is also a second-term congressman with ambitions of eventually becoming president, has not been charged. His case is currently a civil matter, with the bureau so far just demanding the money it says it is owed.
Among those facing criminal prosecution are actor-model celebrities, including Solenn Heussaff, named by the Philippine edition of Esquire magazine this year as “the sexiest woman alive”.
Heussaff disputes the charges that she owes 3.6m pesos in back taxes, and has filed a legal challenge, although she also blames her accountant for any potential discrepancy.
The Philippine national basketball team member Jim Alapag was one of several well-known athletes charged, for allegedly under-declaring.
Wealthy individuals who are away from the limelight are also being pursued, including a precious metals trader who allegedly failed to disclose more than 1bn pesos’ worth of refined gold and silver sales to the central bank.
A man who raised suspicion because of a low salary and a Lamborghini sports car was another to be charged.
Tax evasion is punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
However, those facing prosecution can have charges or criminal complaints dropped by cutting a deal with the revenue bureau, or hope to have their case lost in the quicksand of the Philippines’ justice system.
Criminal cases in the Philippines’ overwhelmed courts take an average of six years to complete, according to government data in 2010.
The Philippines is also infamous for a “culture of impunity” in which the wealthy or powerful are able to bribe, intimidate or otherwise use their influence so that they are rarely held accountable for crimes.
Just one person has been put behind bars for tax evasion since Mr Aquino came to power in 2010, and her four-year prison term meted out last year stemmed from charges filed in 2005, according to the revenue bureau.
But the government is banking on a wide range of name-and-shame techniques to fight tax evasion.
It regularly publishes in newspapers lists of top taxpaying companies in various industries, such as dining, hairdressing or accounting, and asks readers whether successful businesses they know of should be there.
It also releases an annual list of the country’s wealthiest individuals and companies, highlighting the huge difference between their riches and taxes paid.
Occasionally there is also presidential intervention.
In March, Mr Aquino warned the Chinese-Filipino community to start paying taxes or face prosecution.
In an address to an annual meeting of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr Aquino said just 8 per cent of its companies paid taxes.
Sixty per cent of the chamber’s individual members paid no taxes at all, Mr Aquino said in the speech that made national headlines.
The stakes are so high in the Philippines because tax evasion costs $10bn each year, equivalent to 4 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to government estimates.
Mr Aquino says the unpaid taxes deprive his government of money to fight widespread poverty, about one quarter of the country’s 100 million people live on a dollar a day or less.
The government is claiming limited success in its campaign, citing tax collections having risen by 14 per cent last year.
“There is an increase in tax compliance. We would like to think that the programme played a role in that in terms of the fear factor,” Mr Ortiz said.
However, the government has also acknowledged there is a long way to go before tax evasion is tamed, and that the onus rests on whoever takes over from Aquino in 2016 to continue long-term anti-corruption reforms.
* Agence France-Presse
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
Saturday 15 January: v Canada
Thursday 20 January: v England
Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly, Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya Shetty, Kai Smith
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Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world
New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.
The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.
Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.
“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.
"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."
About Housecall
Date started: July 2020
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Sector: HealthTech
# of staff: 10
Funding to date: Self-funded
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
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116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
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In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
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England 353
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Williamson 51, S Curran 2-28
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Name: Younis Al Balooshi
Nationality: Emirati
Education: Doctorate degree in forensic medicine at the University of Bonn
Hobbies: Drawing and reading books about graphic design
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
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Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
New schools in Dubai
