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In its ruling upholding the candidacy of Marcos in the coming presidential race, the poll body noted the propensity of the petitioners to disqualify (DQ) the former senator "to mislead," which the COMELEC said "was apparent in their branding the cases faced by the respondent (Marcos) in the Regional Trial Court and the Court of Appeals (CA) as 'tax evasion cases.'"
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"This phrase is clearly a misnomer. These cannot be rightfully termed as tax evasion cases because he was merely charged with violation of Section 45 which is failure to file income tax returns" and the section in the law pertaining to payment of taxes, to which he was later on acquitted with a definitive finding that "there was no tax evasion or even an attempt on the part of the respondent to evade the payment of his tax liabilities, as he was subjected to the withholding tax system."
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The COMELEC further dismantled the argument of the anti-Marcos groups which filed the DQ plea as it stressed that the "failure to file income tax returns is not tax evasion."
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The poll body indicated that:
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"Tax evasion involves a scheme used outside lawful means and connotes the integration of three factors: The end to be achieved, i.e., the payment of less than that known by the taxpayer to be legally due, or the non-payment of tax when it is shown that a tax is due; an accompanying state of mind which is described as being 'evil,' in ‘bad faith,'willful' or 'deliberate and not accidental,' and a course of action or failure of action which is unlawful."
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In the case of Marcos, the COMELEC noted that the CA found that the respondent, being an elected public official (as Ilocos Norte governor) for the taxable years concerned was already subjected to the withholding tax system, hence, his tax liabilities <i>"were already paid as they were withheld by the government."</i>
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<i>"There is, therefore, no tax evasion to speak of"</i>, the COMELEC underscored. Then the poll body dropped the hammer on the hypocrites: 
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"It somehow becomes ironic when we realize the thought that herein petitioners accuse respondent of misrepresentations while they themselves are guilty of supposed misrepresentations in this very same proceeding."
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Failure to file income tax returns is not tax evasion - COMELEC