DO DOCTORS PAY LITTLE?

New BIR advert says more than half of Cebu, Davao doctors pay less taxes than average public school teachers

Over 90 percent of doctors in Cebu neither paid taxes in 2012 nor declared the correct amount that the taxman should collect from them.

As if taunting a group of medical practitioners that already has expressed anger over insinuations that their profession is packed with tax evaders, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has released another print advertisement about doctors.

In the latest newspaper advertisement, the BIR, in proving its point, presented statistics showing anemic tax payments by doctors in Cebu and Davao.

The ad showed that out of the 2,825 registered doctors in Cebu, more than half—or 1,467—declared in 2012 income tax dues that were less than the tax liability of an average public school teacher.

According to the BIR, an average public school teacher has an annual income tax liability of P27,360. This amount is based on the average yearly income of P222,552 a public school teacher earns.

The ad also showed that another 1,150 doctors in Cebu did not declare any income tax due for the same year.

This means that in Cebu, over 90 percent of the registered doctors either did not pay income tax or paid income tax in amounts smaller than what a public school teacher remitted.
In Davao, the ad further showed, more than half—or 1,307—of the 2,406 registered doctors in the province did not declare any income tax due.

Another 464 paid income tax, but the amounts of tax paid were also less than the tax liability of an average public school teacher.

“When you don’t pay your taxes, you’re a burden to those who do,” the BIR again said in the latest print ad.

Tax cheats

The same line was printed in a previous newspaper advertisement that elicited complaints from the Philippine Medical Association (PMA).

The PMA said the ad, which showed a doctor riding piggyback on a teacher, was highly unfair as it portrayed all doctors as tax cheats.

Doctors in Cebu and Davao yesterday were furious after they were informed by Cebu Daily News of the BIR ad. The respondents agreed to comment on the issue on condition they not be named.

“I don’t think it’s true!  How can you quantitate a no PF (professional fee) charge because the patient cannot afford to pay?” a Cebu City-based dermatologist told CDN.

A general practitioner – whose spouse is also in the medical profession said: “Doctors are in a noble profession. We should not be subject to such criticism. “Di kayang bayaran ng pera ang trabaho namin.”

A Davao-based pediatrician questioned why the BIR is picking on doctors.

“Pataka lang sila. 15% nga ng income namin minus na ng BIR. Grabe sila, bakit mga doctors lang pinuntirya nila?” (They’re just making up stories. The BIR is already withholding 15 percent from our income. They’re nuts. Why are they targeting us doctors.)

The doctor’s views were seconded by lawyer Cornelio Mercado, who is representing Cebu-based ophthalmologist Dr. Potenciano Larrazabal III in a tax evasion case.

He said doctors could hardly skip paying their tax dues with how the government is monitoring them.

“If they want to go after professionals, why not? But for these professionals, including doctors, they don’t have any escape when we talk about paying taxes to the government,” he told CDN.

“The BIR should instead investigate businessmen who can do any tricks they want,” he added.

An observer of the BIR’s anti-tax evasion drive said the ad campaign’s message is illogical.

“Unlike doctors, teachers don’t have to pay rent for their clinics or salaries for staff, so the BIR is comparing apples with oranges. Teachers are taxed as employees while doctors are taxed as professionals, who are entitled to deduct expenses,” he said.

Don’t get hurt

In response, BIR Commissioner Kim Henares has said that instead of feeling hurt, the doctors who were not paying the right taxes should feel ashamed.

On the other hand, Henares also said, doctors who were paying the right taxes should not get hurt by an ad that was attacking tax cheats.

Henares said the BIR’s ad was not only consistent with public perception but was based on statistics.

She said doctors who complain about the negative perception on their tax compliance should take it as a challenge to remit proper taxes.

The print advertisements are part of the BIR’s anti-tax evasion campaign.

The BIR, which accounts for at least 60 percent of the national government’s total revenues, is tasked with collecting P1.456 trillion in taxes in 2014.

The amount is about 20 percent more than its collection of P1.217 trillion last year. / With reports from Inquirer

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