Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday urged the Department of Finance (DOF) to address the low salaries in the country’s two tax-collecting agencies to improve efficiency in revenue collection.

Gatchalian made this suggestion after learning that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) had a total of 7,724 and 2,761 unfilled positions, respectively.

“This is a huge number considering that the BOC and BIR are tax-collecting agencies. I would assume that the more people they have, the more efficient that they will become and the more taxes that they can collect,” Gatchalian said during a budget hearing for the DOF and its attached agencies.

“We don’t want a scenario wherein our tax-collecting agencies, among the most important government agencies, are being left behind. Another consequence of this is the temptation of corruption if lawyers and accountants receive very low salaries. It’s about time to address this.”

He called on the BIR and BOC to submit their suggestions on which positions should be reclassified so that a more attractive compensation package could be offered.

BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. and BOC Deputy Commissioner Michael Fermin admitted that their respective bureaus are having difficulty in hiring personnel, such as lawyers and accountants, as other agencies offer more competitive compensation packages.

“Our main problem is the difficulty in recruiting personnel, considering the low salary that the BIR offers compared to other government agencies,” Lumagui said.

He said the entry-level salary for an accountant is PHP27,000 and that for a lawyer is PHP46,725 compared to the PHP51,000 in the Civil Service Commission.

To fill vacant positions, the BIR has adopted an easier hiring process where regional offices can hire employees on their own, and the approval of the commissioner is no longer required.

Still, Gatchalian emphasized that the two agencies do not stand a chance in hiring the best talents if their compensation packages are not even competitive with other government agencies.

“The basic consideration is the salary package. No matter how we improve the process, if the basic attraction or salary is low, then it’s going to be very difficult for government agencies to attract talent,” he said.

“This is an enforcement group, and we need to have industry-level packages at least so we can ward off temptations, attract the best talents, and improve credibility and integrity within the office.” (PNA)

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