Bureau of Internal Revenue releases annual report consisting entirely of the word ‘progress’

Your Pesos Are in Good Hands, Probably

MANILA — The Bureau of Internal Revenue released its annual accountability report this week, a 47-page document that the Bureau describes as “comprehensive” and analysts describe as “forty-six pages of charts and one page of a word we keep seeing.”

Commissioner Leticia Ledger told reporters the report demonstrates “full transparency,” adding that certain figures are “proprietary, sensitive, or expressed in units that require specialist interpretation.”

What the Report Contains

The report documents collection targets, collection actuals, and a chart comparing the two in which both lines end before the interesting part. A section titled “Disbursement and Impact” consists of four photographs: a school building, a road, a health center, and a smiling official standing in front of one of these things with a check-sized prop.

Dr. Amando Numeros of the Institute for Fiscal Anthropology noted that the check in the photograph is not made out to anyone. “It is a symbolic check,” he confirmed. “The money went somewhere real. We think.”

Taxpayer Sentiment

A survey conducted by the same institute found that 68 percent of Filipino taxpayers believe their money is being used for something, a number the BIR called “encouraging” and the survey authors called “the lowest expression of confidence that technically counts as not being zero.”

The BIR confirmed it will release a supplementary report clarifying the primary report. The supplementary report is expected by Q4, which is also when the primary report was due.

SOURCE: https://bohiney.com