Are top celebrity endorsers also top taxpayers?

MANILA, Philippines – Are the 24 biggest celebrity endorsers among the country’s top individual taxpayers?

The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s latest tax campaign advertisement showed that 15 of the 24 top endorsers for 2011 did not make it to the BIR’s list of Top 500 Taxpayers the same year.

These included couple Carmina Villaroel and Zoren Legaspi, Marian Rivera, Robin Padilla, Sarah Geronimo, Judy Ann Santos, Anne Curtis, Angel Locsin, Boy Abunda, KC Concepcion, Dingdong Dantes, Gerald Anderson, Bea Alonzo, Jericho Rosales, and Ai-Ai Delas Alas.

However, except for Carmina, Zoren, Marian, Ryan, Bea and Ai-Ai, the celebrities in Yes!’s list were able to enter the BIR’s top taxpayers list for 2012. Yes! has yet to publish its 2012 list of top celebrity endorsers.

Kris Aquino, the top endorser for 2011, was also the biggest taxpayer for that year, with P49.87 million regular income tax paid. She fell to No. 6 in the 2012 taxpayers list (P44.93 million).

John Lloyd Cruz, the second biggest endorser, was the 205th top taxpayer in 2011 (P5.4 million) and the 8th in 2012 (P42.79 million).

Sharon Cuneta, the top 3 celebrity endorser, also posted a big jump in the taxpayers list. She was 191st in the 2011 list (P5.74 million), and 9th in the 2012 list (P42 million).

See BIR’s ad below.

Yes!’s list was based on the number of each celebrity’s endorsements and not on earnings from these endorsements.

The BIR’s lists were based on regular income taxes paid.

The BIR’s ads are part of a campaign to encourage the country’s biggest moneymakers to pay the right taxes. The bureau is hard-pressed to improve tax collections, which the government uses to fund its spending program. The government wants to accelerate spending to sustain the country’s high economic growth.

In 2012, Kris lost her titles as the country’s top individual and celebrity taxpayer.

Mercury Drug owner Vivian Que Azcona grabbed the first spot in the taxpayers list, with P131.43 million tax paid.

Willie Revillame, who ranked 2nd with P63.9 million tax paid, was the biggest celebrity taxpayer. – Rappler.com