God forbid we try to make tax collection more efficient, it might actually work and the government would see increased revenue.   When they privatized the drivers license bureau, it worked incredibly well.  We just could not let that happen with tax collection though!

In Panama a new constitutional ruling prevents outsourcing of tax collections to private natural and legal persons, repealing a presidential decree.

The Supreme Court (CSJ) declared as unconstitutional paragraph 3 and subsequent paragraph of Cabinet Decree 109 of May 7, 1970 that allowed the public function of tax collections to be carried out by private individuals and corporations, which was aimed at monitoring the collection of taxes.

The decision affirmed that “… the management of tax collections by third parties outside of the administration, even when backed by appropriate administrative actions, constitutes a violation of the constitutional postulate that assigns this task exclusively to the President of the Republic in association with the respective minister “, reported Prensa.com.

“… Allowing a natural or legal person to perform debt collection on behalf of the State, compromises the confidentiality of taxpayer’s data. Article 42 of the constitution in which it is stated that everyone has the right to have their personal information respected and for it not to be disclosed, especially in a system that relies on databases and public records ” is also a violation.

Source: Prensa.com