CUSTOMS BEATS H1 COLLECTION GOAL
The Bureau of Customs’ (BOC) tax take in the first half of 2021 not only grew year-on-year but also exceeded the target mainly as external trade picked up while global borders further opened up despite lingering risks from COVID-19.
In a statement, the country’s second-biggest revenue agency said import duties and other taxes it collected from January to June reached P302.74 billion, 3.7 percent more than the six-month goal of P291.83 billion. The BOC consistently hit its monthly collection targets in the first six months.
Compared to a year ago, when 75 percent of the economy stopped due to the most stringent lockdown imposed at the onset of the pandemic, the BOC’s end-June revenue jumped 19.6 percent from P253.09 billion last year.
In June alone, the BOC collected P52.45 billion in taxes, 11.2-percent bigger than its P47.18-billion target. Its June take was also higher than the P42.6 billion a year ago.
Last month’s collections included P157.06 million in the tax expenditure fund covering government importations, plus P148.73 million from post-clearance audits, the BOC said.
“The collection perfortions mance of the BOC and its 17 collection districts, under the leadership of Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero, is attributed to the improved valuation of the bureau, its digitized and modernized systems, the gradually improving economy resulting in higher volume of importations and the intensified collection efforts of all districts,” it said.
For one, the normalizing oil prices amid a global economic rebound had been jacking up tax revenues from imports, with the help of the fuel marking program. The Philippines is a net oil importer.
In May, the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee projected merchandise imports to rise 12 percent this year on expectations of domestic demand recovery. President Duterte’s economic managers expected the economy to grow by 6-7 percent in 2021 after last year’s pandemic-induced recession.
Latest government data showed that merchandise imports jumped 21.9 percent yearon-year to $34.46 billion as of end-April. The Philippines imported more products than it sold locally-made goods abroad.
The BOC had been tasked to collect P616.7 billion by end2021, a goal which Guerrero earlier told the Inquirer was “attainable.”