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By Chino S. Leyco, Reporter
THE Philippines’ tax collection efficiency
declined last year, according to the Department of Finance.
Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said the
tax effort, defined as the share of taxes to the economy as measured
by the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), declined to 14
percent last year from 14.3 percent in 2006.
He said tax collections of the Bureaus of
Internal Revenue (BIR) and of Customs amounted to P922.1 billion
last year.
“Our goal now is to return to an upward
trajectory and achieve a 16 percent tax effort or close to precrisis
levels by 2010,” Teves told reporters.
This year, Customs is tasked to collect P254.4
billion and the BIR, P844.95 billion, for a combined P1.099
trillion.
The heads of both agencies however have asked
the finance department to trim their collection goals, something
Teves is unwilling to do.
Last year, the government’s two main revenue
agencies missed their collection targets, but actual figures
remained higher year on year.
BIR collections suffered a 7-percent shortfall
to P712.098 billion against the P765 billion goal, while Customs
turned in P210.6 billion, missing its P228-billion target by
P17.4-billion.
Collections however were higher year on year by
9 percent for the BIR and 6.2 percent for Customs.
The two bureaus are under pressure to increase
collections, as the government aims to balance its budget this year.
The BIR contributes around 70 percent of the government’s tax
revenues, with Customs accounting for the balance.
Last year, the government managed to trim its
budget deficit to P9.4 billion, or way below a P63 billion ceiling
on the back of record proceeds from its asset sales. It managed to
raise over P90 billion from its privatization program, which
included the sale of a controlling stake in the country’s
largest—and the world’s second-biggest—geothermal energy
producer, Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp.
For this year, the government expects
privatization proceeds to fall to just a third of last year’s
windfall, with over half of the programmed amount to come from the
sale of the Food Terminal Inc. (FTI) property.
Apart from the FTI lot, the government is eyeing
to dispose of its shares in San Miguel Corp. and Manila Electric
Co., as well as another property in Japan.
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