State revenue B9bn higher than target

The government’s revenue collection for the six months to March surpassed its target by 9 billion baht, although tax revenue brought in by the two tax-collecting agencies fell short.

The government’s revenue amounted to 1.04 trillion baht, 0.9% higher than the target for the October-to-March period, said Krisada Chinavicharana, directorgeneral of the Fiscal Policy Office.

The revenue contribution from non-tax collecting agencies surpassed the target by 37.8%.

The Excise Department for its part brought in 279 billion baht, which was 1.5% above target. The department managed to gather more revenue than was expected from oil and beer taxes, he said.

The Revenue Department, the country’s largest tax-collecting unit by revenue, for the six months to March collected 745 billion baht in revenue, falling short of its target by 13.3 billion baht or 1.7%.

That sum, however, increased by 21 billion baht or 2.9% over the same period last year.

The department’s collection of petroleum tax and value-added tax missed the mark by 70.9% and 3.6%, respectively.

Mr Krisada said some petroleum explorers whose accounts are based on the calendar year are not due to pay their taxes until May.

That, in part, resulted in the steep shortfall in petroleum tax.

The Customs Department’s tax revenue collection totalled 52.6 billion baht, 13.7% lower than targeted for the six months to March.

State enterprises’ revenue contribution exceeded the target by 3.1% to 69.8 billion baht for the October-to-March period, rising 9.2% year-on-year.

The Metropolitan Electricity Authority, the Government Lottery Office, the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and CAT Telecom were the largest contributors among state enterprises.

Recognition of premiums from bond sales and the contribution from a surplus of the revolving funds also contributed to the higher than targeted revenue.

The government has projected budget expenditure of 2.73 trillion baht and a deficit of 390 billion for the 2017 fiscal year ending in September.