CALASIAO–The taxman has unsheathed a new weapon to increase tax collection – “Fear Factor”.

And to demonstrate its effectiveness, six popular seafood restaurants in the province were closed down temporarily by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for failing to pay the right taxes to the government and were given five days to pay their deficiencies.

BIR officials led by Commissioner Sixto Esquivas, swooped down on the restaurants last Friday in line with the agency’s Oplan Kandado, and padlocked the dining establishments, among which is an acknowledged favorite of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Padlocked in Dagupan City were Matutina’s Restaurant (main and annex), Nena’s Restaurant and Silverio’s Restaurant; and Matutina’s branch in Urdaneta City and Silverio’s branch in Binmaley.

All the restaurants are known favorites of government officials, prominent residents and visitors to Pangasinan.

Esquivas was accompanied by five deputy commissioners and the local management committee of the BIR regional office.

“I’m hoping that with this kind of show of force of the BIR, we will be able to prove to everybody that BIR really means business. It is not just the commissioner but the entire management committee is behind me all the way,” Esquivas said.

This was the agency’s first Oplan Kandado operation in Pangasinan, but about 50 sorties have been carried out in other parts of the country.

Esquivas said the Oplan Kandado is a campaign aimed at increasing revenue collection by shutting down businesses that fail to pay correct tax payments, by increasing the “Fear Factor” among businesses to compel them to pay the right amount of taxes.

The BIR commissioner said the owners of these establishments, who were given a 48-hour notice to explain to the BIR regional review board why they should not be subjected to closure, failed to present evidence for their defense.

He added that a five-day notice was also given for the Value Added Tax compliance but the business owners likewise did not act on this.

Under the law, these establishments will remain padlocked for five days or until they shall have settled their tax dues.

Meanwhile, Esquivas said the BIR has surpassed by P6.3-billion its tax collection target in June.

“It’s very encouraging because not only did we meet the target for June but we surpassed this by a whopping P6.3-billion,” he said.

He said he is confident they will hit their goal for the whole year because the programs initiated earlier to boost the government’s tax collection efforts  are now bearing fruits.#

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