PNP paid P3.88B income tax in 2014

MANILA, Philippines – Around P3.88-billion worth of individual taxes were collected from cops across the country in 2014.

In a press statement on Saturday, March 21, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Generoso Cerbo Jr said they remitted a total of P3,883,039,689.85 worth of withholding tax from 150,000 active PNP personnel nationwide.

The said amount corresponds to an average of P25,886.93 in taxes withheld per individual PNP taxpayer in that year.

Self-employed individuals and professionals in the private sector, on the other hand, paid only an average of P18,813.00 in income tax last year.

“In the PNP, individual tax withheld is automatically deducted from the monthly salary. The taxes withheld become obligations of the PNP to BIR that is remitted to the account of the tax collection agency every year,” Cerbo explained.

Based on National Budget Circular 540 released in 2012, the highest ranking police officer (director general) gets a monthly base pay of P67,500, while the lowest ranking personnel (police officer 1) receives P14,834.

The PNP tax remittance report comes after Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II announced in September 2014 that they’re working on a set of rules and regulations for lifestyle checks on PNP members, following a series of high-profile crimes involving cops themselves.

On that same month, a case was filed before the Ombudsman against PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima over an alleged undervalued property at the general police headquarters in Camp Crame.

After 3 months, the Ombudsman ordered the preventive suspension of Purisima and other PNP officials over the alleged misuse of gun owners’ courier fees. – Rappler.com