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By Chino S. Leyco, Reporter
THE government surpassed last
year’s collection target for the reformed value-added tax (VAT)
law, the Department of Finance said Thursday.
In a statement, Finance
Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran said collections last year grew 15.67
percent to P88.934 billion from P76.89 billion in 2006. The
preliminary figure for last year is higher than the P88.883-billion
target.
Of the total amount raised, the
Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) contributed P31.74 billion,
exceeding its program by P4.2 billion.
Beltran said incremental revenues
from the 20-percent hike in the VAT rate boosted the BIR’s
revenues, with higher collections from the electric power industry
and corporate income taxes, as well as lower losses from mitigating
measures the law provided. Similarly, entities subject to VAT made
lower input claims.
The Bureau of Customs however
collected P57.2 billion, or P4.14 billion short of the program.
Beltran said Customs collection
was negatively affected by the 9.5 percent peso appreciation
resulting in lower collections on raw materials for petroleum
products by P3.7 billion and slightly higher collections from
petroleum products by P0.1 million.
“The lower collection arose
partly from lower volume of petroleum product imports which was not
offset by the higher average price of oil—at $68.48 per
barrel—compared with the $63 per barrel projection,” Beltran
said.
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