TAX PAYMENTS SWUNG PH TO P 4.9-B BUDGET SURPLUS IN APRIL

The national government posted a budget surplus of P4.9 billion in April, as revenues exceeded spending during the month when Filipino taxpayers are supposed to file their returns and pay their income tax for 2021.

The latest Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) data on Friday showed that April’s fiscal balance reversed the P44.4-billion deficit posted during the same month last year.

To recall, the budget deficit in April 2021 was mainly due to the government spending more amid the prolonged fight against COVID-19. And while the government collected annual tax payments for the year 2020 in April of last year, as scheduled, the Philippines’ worst post-war recession at the onset of the pandemic, which shed millions of jobs and thousands of livelihoods, resulted in smaller household and corporate incomes, hence weaker revenues.

In April of this year, tax and nontax revenues climbed 19.2 percent year-on-year to P348 billion. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which collected 2021 income taxes that month, grew its tax take by 9.4 percent year-on-year to P239.6 billion. But despite giving some leeway to taxpayers and extending the deadline to April 18 as the mandatory April 15 cut-off date fell on a holiday, the BIR missed its P256.9-billion goal for the month.

Public disbursements also increased in April, but at a slower pace of 1.9 percent year-on-year to P343 billion. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) earlier said that “disbursements are expected to slow down in April and May following the 45-day election ban on certain public expenditures pursuant to the Omnibus Election Code” ahead of the concluded May 9 presidential elections.

Primary spending net of interest payments last month declined 2.2 percent year-on-year to P305.7 billion. The BTr primarily attributed the lower “productive” expenditures to one-off releases last year, such as the P22.9-billion financial assistance given away to local governments as the COVID-19 pandemic dragged on.

Notwithstanding the small surplus posted in April, the budget gap at the end of the first four months remained at a deficit, amounting to P311.9 billion, yet smaller by 14.8 percent compared to end-April 2021’s P365.9-billion deficit.

From January to April, tax and nontax revenues climbed 14.6 percent year-on-year to P1.13 trillion.