Facial Care makes the cut as top salon taxpayer, but lowest pays only P37

Is your favorite salon or beauty clinic a good taxpayer, or just another crooked business trying to cheat government by not paying the right amount of tax?

 

There are those who pay the government what is due, and there are those who pay “ridiculously low income tax dues,” the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) noted in the latest Tax Watch released Wednesday.

 

In an infographic, which has been appearing as an advertisement in national dailies since last month, the government cited Facial Care Center as the highest top-paying beauty treatment clinic in 2011, paying P4.280 million in income taxes.

Facial Care's banner service is LaserLight, a hair removal treatment that uses pulsating light against unwanted hair. According to the the American Academy of Dermatology, this procedure works best with light-skinned, dark-haired individuals and marks a 10-25 percent reduction in hair growth per session.

 

Forever Flawless and Beauty Profile Corporation, an associate of FCC and Svenson International, were distant second and third placers. Forever Flawless paid the government P2.639 million and Beauty Profile settled P2.612 million in tax obligations.

Other beauty clinics, however, were listed as having paid ridiculously low income taxes. Violy's Beauty Parlor in La Trinidad, Benguet paid P37 in taxes, Deec Hair Inc. in Pasig only paid P56 pesos, while Greta Merchandise and Beauty Shop in Sorsogon paid P59.96.

A footnote on the infofragic read, "baka kulang pa para magpagupit ng bangs." 

 

'What it means'

By using infographics, the Tax Watch program aims to increase transparency on tax payments and encourage taxpayers to pay the right amount of tax, according to the govenrment.

 

"The Tax Watch campaign is really intended to make citizens aware about what it means to pay taxes," Finance Undersecretary Maria Theresa Habitan told GMA News Online on Wednesday.

 

Under the program, DOF and BIR publish a weekly list of individual and non-individual taxpayers on the DOF and Pera ng Bayan website, and place ads in major newspapers.

 

The Pera ng Bayan website, a project of the Office of the Secretary of Finance, enables citizens to report illegal practices using the Reklamo button or cite exemplary civil servants by clicking the Pasado button.

 

Previous infographics used by the government include the highest tax-paying restaurants in Makati and Quezon City, and low tax-paying pawnshops. Another compared the number of registered taxpayers with the actual number of people who filed their income tax returns in Cebu and Davao. 

In another infographic, the government noted that public school teachers pay more taxes per year than accountants, doctors, and lawyers working in Makati. One in 1,179 doctors were said to only pay P10 in taxes, and one out of 534 lawyers only paid P200.

 

On the Official Gazette online, Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima cited statistics which showed a huge discrepancy between tax payments and the number of institutions registered with the BIR. 

 

He indicated that while the BIR's income and sin tax collections were impressive, value-added tax collection needs to be improved. — VS/YA, GMA News