What countries publish tax records?

MANILA, Philippines – Numerous reports have been coming out lately about public officials with unexplained wealth, and businessmen and celebrities evading taxes in a big way.

Many ordinary Filipinos – journalists, included – are therefore wishing they could easily scrutinize these public figures’ income so easily.

In the Philippines, however, revealing tax information to the public is prohibited, as stated in Republic Act 8424 or the Tax Reform Act.

Releasing tax data for public viewing is not a famous policy in most parts of the world, actually.

But there are at least 4 countries that publish the tax records of its citizens on the Internet for an easy public search:

• Finland
• Norway
• Sweden
• Pakistan

In the Scandinavian countries, tax records had been made public even before the birth of the Internet. These were published in print. These documents are now published online through searchable databases.

A report in USA Today said this initiative reflects the Scandinavian tradition of jantelag (translates as “nobody is better than anyone else”).

Pakistan is the latest country to make its tax data available to the public – the result of investigative reports in 2012 that revealed massive tax evasion in the country.

Journalist Sheila Coronel wrote that Pakistan had one of the worst tax-to-GDP ratios in the world, with most of its officials identified to have failed to file their tax returns.

Also Italy – well, almost

The tally of countries with public tax data should have been 5 by now, if Italy didn’t shut down its online tax database.

In 2008, then outgoing minister Vincenzo Visco released on the Internet the tax records of its citizens for 2005.

The move garnered complaints from the public who raised the issue of risks of identity theft and fraud. This prompted the immediate closure of the site.

Countries with public tax data have received the same concerns from its citizens, but have already addressed the issue through various moves.

In Sweden, the government makes its database available only to people who can prove they had a “legitimate need” for it.

In Norway, on the other hand, the government came up with the system that requires users to login, and bans media from replicating data on their sites.

How about the Philippines?

In the Philippines, Republic Act 8424 or the Tax Reform Act that prohibits making tax records public was signed in 1997.

The law states that employees of the Bureau of the Internal Revenue (BIR) who will disclose tax details will be fined from P50,000 to P100,000, and will be imprisoned from 2 to 5 years.

Individuals who will cause a BIR official to release such data will also be fined P2,000 or will be imprisoned from 6 months to 5 years. – Rappler.com

Tax form icon from Shutterstock.

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