DOF: Tax effort highest in 11 years
The share of the country’s tax collections to gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 14.3 percent in 2017, the highest level recorded in 11 years, according to the Department of Finance.
“According to preliminary data, the tax effort in 2017 registered at 14.3 percent of GDP, the highest in the last 11 years,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said.
“In the past administration, the tax effort increased by an average of 0.3 percentage point per year. In 2017 the tax effort registered a 0.6 percentage point increase from the previous year, double the average the last administration. This is the highest rate of improvement since 2009,” he said.
Dominguez attributed the growth to the improvement in the efficiency of revenue-collecting agencies.
“We were able to improve collections that much without a change in tax rates and only through more efficient and honest tax collections,” Dominguez said.
He also cited the government’s successful crackdown against Mighty Corp., which yielded P30 billion in additional tax collections.
Earlier, Internal Commissioner Caesar Dulay said the agency’s tax effort rose to 11.26 percent in 2017 from the 10.8 percent recorded the previous year.
Tax effort refers to the share of the government’s tax collec- tions to the country’s gross domestic product. The economy grew 6.7 percent in
2017, slower than the 6.9 percent growth posted in 2016.
Revenue of the BIR last year amounted to P1.779 trillion, up 12.9 percent from the P1.576 trillion actual collection the previous year. This also represents a 97.27 percent accomplishment rate as against the bureau’s P1.829 trillion collection goal for 2017.
The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, collected P457.64 billion in 2017, representing a 97.8 percent accomplishment rate in relation to its P468 billion goal for the year.
For 2018, the BIR is targeting to collect P2.039 trillion in taxes, 14.61 percent higher than the 2017 actual collection.
The BOC is also targeting to collect P598 billion in customs duties and taxes.