US$3 billion tax bill for Philippines’ Marcos family will be collected vows new chief – 30 years after dictator’s death
- Lilia Guillermo says there is no doubt the controversial tax liability will be collected, but needs documents ascertaining amount owed is indeed 200 billion pesos
- Past tax chiefs have tried to collect the revenue the Marcos family have still not paid more than 30 years after the death of dictator Ferdinand Senior
The Philippines’ incoming tax agency chief said she will collect the estate tax due from the family of President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, taking on an issue that has hounded the next leader.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue will carry out its mandate to collect, if the amount is “final and executory,” tax chief-designate Lilia Guillermo said on Wednesday.
Guillermo, who was appointed by Marcos to serve in his incoming administration, said there is no doubt that the agency will collect the controversial tax liability. However, she needs to see the documents first, and find out for certain if the amount due is indeed 200 billion pesos.
The Marcos estate taxes were previously assessed at 23 billion pesos (US$422 million), but the liability has since ballooned to over 200 billion pesos (US$3.7 billion) due to penalties and taxes, Rappler reported in March.
Marcos’s camp said during his presidential campaign that the issue “is still pending in court” and that the fair tax base for computing the liability arising from the late dictator’s estate can’t be ascertained. A Supreme Court document however showed the estate tax ruling became final in 1999, ABS-CBN reported.
Guillermo, a central bank assistant governor who previously served in the internal revenue bureau for 30 years, was nominated to head the tax agency on the recommendation of incoming Finance Secretary and outgoing central bank chief Benjamin Diokno. Before accepting the nomination, she asked Diokno about the pending tax issue and his advise was to “leave it to the court,” she said.