Tag: TAXUD

BANGKOK, April 25 (Xinhua) — Tobacco giant Philip Morris International’s Thai unit Monday denies tax evasion charges in the Criminal Court of Thailand.
Thai prosecutors accused eight executives from the Thai unit of the company of dodging massive impo…

Le géant du tabac Philip Morris, soupçonné en Thaïlande d’avoir fraudé sur les taxes d’importation, a plaidé non coupable lundi d’un délit qui peut lui coûter plus de deux milliards d’euros.

D’après une déclaration lue par le juge, la société et sept employés thaïlandais, qui risquent dix ans de prison, ont contesté toutes les charges qui pèsent contre eux lors d’une audience préalable au procès.

Quatre dirigeants étrangers ont également été inculpés dans cette affaire ouverte depuis une décennie mais ils ont quitté le pays depuis plusieurs années.

Le cigarettier est accusé d’avoir évité de payer 20 milliards de bahts (500 millions d’euros) de taxes d’importation en ne déclarant qu’une partie des cigarettes acheminées dans le pays depuis les Philippines entre 2003 et 2006.

Philip Morris, qui possède les marques Marlboro et L&M, risque une amende de 80 milliards de bahts (2 milliards d’euros), selon le parquet.

La société nie “vigoureusement” ces allégations “sans fondement”, a déclaré après l’audience Alejandro Paschalides, directeur général de Philip Morris Thaïlande.

“Nous aimerions que le gouvernement reconsidère ces accusations non fondées qui vont nuire à la réputation de la Thaïlande dans le milieu des affaires et finalement causer des dommages à l’économie thaïlandaise et donc au peuple thaïlandais”, a-t-il ajouté dans un communiqué.

Le fabricant de cigarettes rappelle que ses évaluations d’importation respectaient les accords de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce et avaient été autorisées par les fonctionnaires des douanes thaïlandaises.

En 2011, le parquet avait recommandé de ne pas poursuivre le cigarettier, mais l’affaire avait été rouverte deux ans plus tard.

La prochaine audience est prévue pour le mois d’octobre mais le procès pourrait encore durer pendant plusieurs années.

There are only two certain things in life–death and taxes, goes the popular saying. If you recently spent hours filling up tax forms, or are among those reminded that you pay personal income taxes of as much as 32 percent, you know that taxes are a fact of life.

Of course, that doesn’t stop you from complaining, and chances are, you’ve probably asked yourself just where your money goes.

The government collects several kinds of taxes, among them, personal income taxes, value-added tax, estate and donor’s tax, other percentage taxes, excise taxes, and documentary stamp taxes. These levies are collected on all types of revenue, except when these are explicitly exempted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

It is your personal responsibility to know which tax you should pay, and to compute it correctly. Forgetting to file and pay your taxes, whether willfully or otherwise, is considered a crime.

Similarly, failing to correctly declare the right amount could lead to costly penalties that you would want to avoid. For this reason, you should take your tax responsibilities seriously.

No matter how hard it may be on your pocket, the fact remains that taxes serve a purpose and the greater good. Here are five reasons why you pay taxes and why you should make sure you pay the right amount:

1. They ensure that we receive our basic needs.

Taxes answer for all of government’s expenditures, including the running of those agencies that make it possible for us to access basic necessities and services. This includes water, power, roads, airports, and even the Metro Rail Transit. When tax revenues are low and the government limits its budget for these services, we will ultimately suffer with poor delivery of basic services.

2. They help keep us safe.

Our taxes are used to pay for the salaries of military personnel and policemen, who keep us safe and keep peace and order in our country. Because of tax revenues, both the training and equipment of security forces are upgraded, putting them in a better position to defend us.

3. They keep business costs low.

When the government is able to collect enough taxes, it does not suffer a revenue shortfall which can otherwise affect the country’s economic fundamentals and prospects. When our economic fundamentals are weak because of low tax collections, investor confidence softens, therefore affecting the business environment and raising our country’s risk rating. This, in turn, translates to higher interest rates which can only make it harder for us to do business individually.

4. They help ensure a better future for our children.

Our taxes pay for the salaries of teachers in public schools and fund the construction of school buildings, as well as the procurement of books, and school supplies. Education is a great enabler and equalizer, opening up opportunities that otherwise would not exist for the poorest of the poor. By paying our taxes, we are able to educate our children and the future generation of Filipinos.

5. They help the poorest of the poor.

Taxes fund government assistance for the poorest of the poor. Taxes on alcohol and tobacco, for instance, have been used to fund PhilHealth, the state health insurance fund. Taxes also fund the Conditional Cash Transfer program, which give poor families a monthly allowance as long as they keep their children in school. When government services suffer, the poorest of the poor are hardest hit because they do not have options.

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Grow Your Money is an editorial partnership between ABS-CBNnews.com and Citi Philippines to promote financial education and provide helpful information to Filipinos on how to better manage their personal finances.

Visit www.citibank.com.ph for more information.

April 23, 2016 10:03 pm

AS it normally does, the other day Social Watch Philippines (SWP) issued a statement asking presidential candidates a vital and important question.

Prof. Leonor Magtolis Briones (a former Manila Times columnist), SWP’s convenor, asked: “Candidates have made excessive promises in their platforms. How are they going to deliver these promises [they make] to woo the voters? We know lowering taxes is appealing to voters but the people need to know where the next administration will get the money to compensate for the lost revenues.”

The SWP release said this was a question from several civil society groups led by Social Watch Philippines. SWP also shared the results of its and the other groups’ tracking of the candidates’ pronouncements and positions about public financing, specifically on the issues of pork barrel, lump-sum funds left under the discretion of the President, and the sources of government revenues.

“The Supreme Court has made decisions on the pork barrel and lump sums and one of the obligations of the President is to defend the Constitution. Only Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said they will reject all pork barrel and lump-sum funds in any form. That means they are opening 25% of the national budget to public scrutiny when it goes through the Congress deliberations, which should be the appropriate process,” explained Prof. Leonor Magtolis Briones.

Social Watch said Duterte and Vice President Jojo Binay declared to reduce the taxes of lower income groups.

But Sen. Grace Poe and Defensor-Santiago said they would reduce corporate tax. They also said they would reduce the tax rate of higher income groups with P500,000 and above annual income, from 32 percent to 25 percent. “It does not help that this will practically lower the income tax of the elite billionaires’ club which is included in the said tax bracket. Worse, Defensor-Santiago proposed to increase the tax rate of Value-Added Tax from 12% to 19% in 2019 which will definitely render the poor even poorer,” Briones added.

Briones raised the problem of constitutionality in the declaration of Sen. Grace Poe that the determination of tax rates should be left to economists. Prof. Briones said: “We all know that revenue measures should emanate from the House of Representatives, upon the recommendation of the Executive. On the other hand, it is expected that Secretary Mar Roxas will maintain the current policies.”

Social Watch’s monitoring found that VP Binay sees loans as necessary to provide government services; that Defensor-Santiago declared she’d rather get domestic borrowings rather than foreign loans while Roxas said he will exercise prudence in foreign borrowings.

“No one is looking at government corporations that are supposed to remit 50% of their income to the national government; streamlining the brackets for high-earning taxpayers; reform or rationalize excise taxes, investment incentives; and reforms in tax administration and efficient tax collection,” Briones said.

In 2016, the Philippines committed to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals composed of 17 sustainable goals and 169 targets, emphasizing the abolition of absolute poverty in 2030. Social Watch said this poses a big challenge to the next administration and the candidates have been quick to vow bringing relief to the poor, in terms of food, jobs, education, and health.

Briones urged the people to also examine the candidates’ human rights perspective and their plan to reform the tax system, to be sensitive to gender issues.

Specifically, Social Watch is proposing to amend Section 79-F of the National Internal Revenue Code that deems the husband as head of the family on matters of tax exemptions. “What if the father does not have work? The mother, who is practically the head of the family, will not be able to declare their children as dependents without the consent of the father. This is sad, considering that more women than men in the family are the ones working,” Briones said.

SWP said that among the senatorial candidates, only Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Greco Belgica, Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, and Walden Bello signified their opposition to the pork barrel and all lump-sum funds that are left to the discretion of the President.

These are observations the people should bear in mind when voting on May 9.