Gov’t tops revenue targets for 3rd straight year
Bureau of Internal Revenue
MANILA, Philippines — The government’s two top revenue agencies collected up to P3.2 trillion in duties and taxes from the country’s P5.3-trillion economy this year, surpassing its targets for 2022, Malacañang said on Sunday.
Citing the year-end report of the Department of Finance (DOF), the Palace said, in a statement, that “emerging” revenue collections from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) have reached P3.2 trillion, surpassing the full-year 2022 Development Budget Coordination Committee target by 2.2 percent.
It was the third straight year that the government surpassed its revenue target after collecting P2.9 trillion in 2020 and P3 trillion in 2021.
In 2019, the government actually collected P3.138 trillion, but the government downscaled its 2020 target because of the pandemic.
Despite the excellent revenue collection performance, however, the DOF said it would seek new taxes in 2023, such as excises on single-use plastics and value-added taxes on digital service providers.
Aside from the new taxes, the DOF will also push through with its programmed “rightsizing,” or retrenchment, which, the agency said, would “maximize efficiency and use of public funds.”
The DOF also said it would continue pushing for unimplemented packages of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, including real property valuation and taxes on passive income and financial services. It will also target private sector fund mobilization through public-private partnership projects and will monetize assets, such as the Basay mining rights in Negros Oriental, Tala Estate property in Caloocan City, and Food Terminal Inc. property in Taguig City.
The DOF said tax administration reforms will also be implemented to enhance tax efforts, maximize the government’s revenue potential, simplify taxpayer compliance and automate the BIR and BOC processes.
Meanwhile, the agency said the government is expected to secure next year around $19.1 billion in official development assistance, $9.2 billion worth of loans from multilateral development partners, and $9.8 billion in loans from bilateral lenders.
Aside from its revenue performance, the DOF also listed as accomplishments the implementation of grants and technical assistance amounting to an estimated $85.5 million (about P469 million).
Other DOF accomplishments for this year included the resolution on tax incentives for business activities outside zone limits, commitments to transparency in collections from the oil, gas, and mining industries under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives, and the revision of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 6957, or the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.
The department also cited the various Philippine Economic Briefings and Meetings it conducted with credit rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch and Moody’s, where the administration’s economic team showcased the country’s bright economic prospects.
This is in addition to the DOF’s hosting of the 55th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank board of governors in May and September.
