Pacquiao is No. 1 taxpayer

QUEZON CITY – World boxing icon Manny Paqcuiao should also be cited for being the No. 1 taxpayer in the country.

This was disclosed by Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez who said that based on the 2008 list of taxpayers of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Pacquiao was the number one individual taxpayer in the country.

“If the government is running out of awards to give to Manny, then it should think of honoring him for being the reigning champion in the individual income tax payment category,” Alvarez said.

A BIR report last April showed that Pacquiao paid P125 million in taxes for 2008, besting Forbes-listed billionaires.

“He’s not only the world’s pound-for-pound boxing king, but he’s also the country’s peso-for-peso tax payments title holder,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez said if Pacquiao is honored as top taxpayer “ it would spur others more moneyed than him to knock him out of the BIR listing.”

BizNewsAsia listed Pacquiao also as top taxpayer based on BIR reports. Second biggest is Willie Revillame with P58.6 million; and Piolo Pascual, No. 3, with P55.8 million payments.

Other showbiz personalities in  the Top 10 are Kris Aquino, No. 8 with payment of P25.44 million; and Michael V (Beethoven del Valle Bunagan), No. 10 with P22.26 million.

Other big taxpayers are Philex President Walter Brown with P26.83 million tax (No. 9); Rio Tuba Nickel owner Manuel Zamora Jr. with P19.96 million tax (No. 12); San Miguel Corp’s Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. with P18.98 million tax (No.13); PLDT Chairman and Meralco CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan with P18.55 million (No. 14); the former Meralco President Manolo Lopez, P17.49 million (No. 16); Union Bank Chairman and CEO Justo Aboitiz Ortiz, P15.2 million (No. 19), and SMC President and Petron CEO Ramon S. Ang, P14.85 million (No. 20).

Prominent tycoon Henry Sy Sr., the richest Filipino by Forbes Magazine listing, was reportedly No. 73 in the list with tax payments of P7.27 million, while Lucio Tan, second in the Forbes list, failed to land in the top 100.