BIR 107th Anniversary Today August 1, 2011

The Bureau of Internal Revenue is celebrating its 107th Anniversary. Under the leadership of Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares. Early this morning Secretary of Finance Cesar V. Purisima spoke in front of BIR Revenue officials.

Although President Benigno S. Aquino III could not come to this special occasion he provided a message to greet the BIR on its founding anniversary:

Let this significant milestone be an occasion for you to further
strengthen your solidarity and to more resolutely uphold the
ideals of transparency, accountability, and honesty.

My warmest greetings and heartfel congratulations to the Bureau of  Internal Revenue on the occasion of your 107th Anniversary.
  

We are on with the BIR in this celebration of your long history of dedicated service to the Filipino people. Indeed, your mandate to assess and collect national internal revenue taxes is a an essential component of our thrust for economic development, and is likewise crucial to carrying out programs necessary to advance the welfare of our citizenry, in line with this, I commend the active role you have taken in our transformation agenda, as evidenced by, amount others, your vigilant campaign against tax evasion.  I trust you to stay committed to your guiding principle of "Service Excellence with Integrity and Professionalism." by instituting reforms geared toward the further improvement of your agency's performance.  

It is always a privilege to work alongside BIR in moving our nation forward. Let this significant milestone be an occasion for you to further strengthen your solidarity and to more resolutely uphold the ideals of transparency, accountability, and honesty. Continue to raise the standards of honorable public service, that we may bring more opportunities for dynamic growth to our people and establish a better and more prosperous Philippines.

We continue to make concrete progress in our objectives to deliver an honest, responsive, and efficient government that put the interest of our countrymen above all else. With the daylight of hope and positive change upon us, we must reaffirm our collective duties and responsibilities as public servants--we must remain on the straight and righteous path toward a future of peace, stability, and of realized dreams of every Filipino. - Signed by: President Benigno S. Aquino III

 Message from the Secretary of Finance Cesar V. Purisima:

I wish the BIR the best in all its efforts to raise
income for the Republic of the Philippines.
Mabuhay kayong lahat!

My warmest congratulations to the men and women of the BIR as your agency celebrates its 107th founding anniversary!  

Through the years, BIR, government's premier revenue agency, has been instrumental in helping the state reach new heights by being true to its mandate of raising revenues essential for government to undertake social programs and capital projects.

Taxation is the state's lifeblood and as such it is the duty and obligation of every citizen to pay his or her taxes due the government. However, meeting targets and growing yearly collections have become increasingly difficult every year for the BIR.  Such big losses can be traced not only from people who do not pay their taxes, but most importantly, to corruption in the bureaucracy.

Institutionalizing discipline and good governance is the key.  This is why under the Aquino administration, BIR, through Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares, has strenghtened its anti-corruption drive and eventually saw early fruits on the efforts to curb tax evasion practives and contribute into nation-building.  

By running after tax evaders, BIR collections grew by remarkable 9.6% year-on-year in 2010.  The year, the bureau also started on the right track by not only posting 14.29% growth in the January-April collections, it also surpassed its four month goal of P302.16 billion by collecting P302.94 billion.  

Truly, moves to eradicate corruption in the BIR have gone a long way. But we will not stop there.  The bureau will continue on improving its processes by simplifying tax administration in order to raise more revenues to pump prime the economy.  

As you step in a new year,  I wish the BIR the best in all its efforts to raise income for the Republic of the Philippines.  Mabuhay kayong lahat!  - - Signed by: Secretary of Finance Cesar V. Purisima

 Message from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue Kim S. Jacinto-Henares:

Tomorrow may bring fresh challenges for us to face,
but it shall also surely bring hope and the promise of
better things to come, and greater dreams to fulfill.  

I extend my heartfelt greetings and commendation to the men and women of the revenue service as the BIR celebrates its 107th Anniversary.

The story of the Bureau is, in many ways, the story of the Filipino people, who have seen many trials and challeges over the years, yet continue to grown and evolve in an enduring quest for a better way of life.  Over the past 107 years, the Bureau has been witness to many changes, some painful, some exhilarating, yet all instrumental in making the revenue service what it is today.  

As the Bureau moves onward into the second decade of the 21st Century,  I cannot help but reflect on how far the revenue service has come.  Every achievement and every success that has brought the Bureau to this time and place,  however, is founded on the commitment, dedication and service of generations of revenuers who have dedicated their careers to the fulfillment of the Bureau's mission to the Filipino nation.  In deeds great and small, amid the backdrop of rapid - and often dramatic - political, social and economic change, they continue to write the story of the Bureau with courage, determination and resolve.  

That I am a part of this great endeavor of the revenue service will always be a source of professional pride and personal fulfillment to me, and I encourage every revenuer, therefore, to see in this and all future Anniversaries,  the enduring renewal of our shared covenant with the Filipino people to support them in their quest for a life of dignity.  Tomorrow may bring fresh challenges for us to face, but it shall also surely bring hope and the promise of better things to come, and greater dreams to fulfill.  

May God, the Author of all triumphs, be our constant inspiration in all our undertakings, and may He continue to guide us with His wisdom and grace along every step of our journey of service, today and in the years ahead.  Mabuhay ang BIR! - signed by CIR Kime S. Jacinto-Henares