NORTH CAMARINES LUMBER CO., INC. v.

CIR

GR No. L-12353, September 30, 1960

109 PHIL 511

FACTS: The petitioner sold more than 2M boardfeet of logs to General Lumber Co. with the agreement
that the latter would pay the sales taxes. The CIR, upon consultation officially advised the parties that
the bureau interposes no objection so long as the tax due shall be covered by a surety. General Lumber
complied, but later failed, with the surety, to pay the tax liabilities, and so the respondent collector
required the petitioner to pay thru a letter dated August 30, 1955. Twice did the petitioner filed a
request for reconsideration before finally submitting the denied request for appeal before the Court of
Tax Appeals. The CTA dismissed the appeal as it was clearly filed out of time. The petitioner had
consumed thirty-three days from the receipt of the demand, before filing the appeal. Petitioner argued
that in computing the 30-day period in perfecting the appeal the letter of the respondent Collector
dated January 30, 1956, denying the second request for reconsideration, should be considered as the
final decision contemplated in Section 7, and not the letter of demand dated August 30, 1955.

ISSUE: Is the contention of the petitioner tenable?

HELD: No. This contention is untenable. We cannot countenance that theory that would make the
commencement of the statutory 30-day period solely dependent on the will of the taxpayer and place
the latter in a position to put off indefinitely and at his convenience the finality of a tax assessment.
Such an absurd procedure would be detrimental to the interest of the Government, for "taxes are the
lifeblood of the government, and their prompt and certain availability is an imperious need."