The tax effort of the country must be raised to 40 percent this year compared to the current 11 to 12 percent.

This is one of the challenges posed to the Bureau of Internal Revenue to increase tax collection as the goal for 2011 is raised to P940 billion, Lucita Rodriguez, BIR assistant commissioner said at the recent tax campaign in Negros Occidental.

Rodriguez said tax effort is the ratio of the actual collection and the gross domestic product of the country. If the tax effort decreases, it means the collection is insufficient, she added.

Union files strike
notice vs. hospital

The Bacolod Our Lady of Mercy Specialty Hospital Employees Union filed a notice of strike before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board yesterday on the grounds of unfair labor practice due to union busting.

Union president Roberto Villaram said they filed the notice due to continued termination of hospital workers after they won the certification of election in February.

The lawyer of BOLMSH, Roger Reyes, said filing the notice is premature and illegal because the union has no valid grounds and the hospital has no collective bargaining agreement with them.

Market prices monitoring up

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia tasked the city’s Price Monitoring Unit to check the prices of basic necessities and prime commodities in the city’s markets in response to the call of the Department of Trade and Industry, a press release from the city said.

DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo called on the city to protect the consuming public against unscrupulous traders who increase the price of their merchandize due to the perceived increase in price of imported raw materials.

The PMU, led by executive assistant Ernie Pineda, visited the Libertad and Central markets, Thursday, with representatives of the DTI and the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics, the press release said.