We need a charter, which the Philippines has yet to adopt, to protect taxpayers against threats to their rights. In 2019, then Senator Ralph Recto filed Senate Bill (SB) 1163, a proposed act ordaining a Bill of Rights for Taxpayers. In his explanatory note, Recto acknowledged the need to protect taxpayers vis-à-vis the government's mandate to collect revenues. Unfortunately, nothing has happened to the bill.
Earlier this year, the House Ways and Means Committee chaired by Albay Representative Joey Sarte Salceda approved measures seeking to make paying taxes easier. House Bill (HB) 8942 (in substitution of HBs 7881 and 7415) or the proposed "Ease of Paying Taxes Act," authored by Salceda, introduces amendments to the National Internal Revenue Code (Tax Code) to ensure that the correct amount of taxes is paid and collected in the most convenient manner.
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