DOF to further boost tax collection

The Department of Finance (DOF) has committed to further improve collection of the government’s two main revenue-generating agencies, which reported promising 8.8 percent growth figures in tax takes in the first semester of the year.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs registered a combined revenue collection of R1.058 trillion in the January-June period this year from R974 billion in the same period last year.

For the first six months of 2017, Dominguez reported that total revenues grew 6.8 percent from the same period last year from R1.101 trillion to R1.176 trillion, while tax revenues rose 8.8 percent from R982.9 billion to R1.069 trillion.

“These are promising growth figures, and our main revenue agencies are committed to maintaining this momentum,” he added.

“We can also expect further improvements in our 2017 collections due to the ongoing administrative reforms and, hopefully, the early beneficial effects of tax reform.” Dominguez also noted the steady improvement in government revenue generation.

In 2016, total collection reached R2.196 trillion or 4.1 percent higher than R2.109 trillion in 2015. The BIR improved its collection by 9.3 percent from R1.433 trillion to R1.567 trillion, while the Customs Bureau improved 7.8 percent from R367.5 billion in 2015 to R396.3 billion in 2016, Dominguez said.

“Other revenue-generating agencies have also achieved huge improvements in collection by 14.8 percent. Overall, we have achieved a strong tax revenue growth rate of 9.1 percent in 2016,” he said.