MANNY'S ILL-ADVISED ARROGANCE

The Bureau of Internal Revenue may have good reason to believe that Manny Pacquiao had paid considerably less income tax than that which he should  for taxable year 2010.  BIR records lifted from the Internet show that Pacquiao was the number one individual taxpayer in 2008.  The following year, he was not even included in the top ten posts.  Then, in 2010, he was 135th.

The 2010 records show he paid just slightly over P8.0 million in income tax, against a total or gross taxable income of more that half a billion pesos, or a measly 1.7% ratio of income tax to gross taxable income.  Comparatively, the number one income tax payer for the same year paid P67.7  million in income tax against a gross taxable income of only P295.5 million, or a tax-to-income ratio of nearly 23%.

Given the foregoing comparative figures, any BIR examiner -- or an accountant, for that matter -- couldn't help but suspect, at least preliminarily,  that something was irregular in Manny's 2010 income tax return.  At any rate, in fairness to the tax bureau, he was not being assessed of any tax liability yet; he was just being asked to submit certain relevant documents.  That is normal in all tax investigation.

Manny Pacquiiao is known to be a very humble person, so one wonders that he suddenly became arrogant in responding to the BIR;s letter, calling it a form of assessment.  I may be wrong, but based on available media releases, it was Manny, or maybe his allies, who first brought this otherwise strictly confidential matter to the public.  Chances are, Manny had been erroneously advised by his lawyer and accountant. There is reason to believe it was these latter two staff who should be blamed  for the worsening of this otherwise very simple case.  Now Manny has been reported in the media as asking President Aquino to sanction the BIR official who, he believes, has been harassing him.  That is, once again, another serious blunder of Pacquiao. He should have realized, assuming he really wanted P-Noy to help him, that in this life there that are better left unsaid.   Telling the public about it will not definitely do him any good.

It is unfortunate that this happens at a time when he is training for his next scheduled fight.  He will be a hypocrite if he says he is unfazed by this problem..  No matter what he says, it will surely be a mental concern, if not necessary torture,  for him.   Under these trying circumstances, I am sure everybody is praying to God that Manny will be able to survive this predicament and emerge triumphant  in his forthcoming bout with Bradley.