Going For Broke?

As the chief tax collector in the impoverished Philippines, Guillermo Parayno does not receive a lot of positive feedback. For nearly two years, the 56-year-old commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue has battled tax cheats and rampant corruption, trying to fix a dysfunctional tax system that is so full of holes the country's solvency is threatened. Tired of fighting a losing battle, Parayno finally gave up in late July: he called President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and resigned. "There are still many leakages that have to be plugged," he told Arroyo. "I worry that I won't be able to respond to...