Government To Reach 2022 Revenue Goal

The Bureau of the Treasury reported that The government’s revenue collection is on track to hit its full-year target this year due to the Bureau of Customs’ better-than-expected performance.

Based on the report, total revenues reached ₱3.277 billion from January to November, only 0.7% short of the ₱3.3 trillion full-year goals. The November revenue haul was 18% higher compared to the ₱2.774 trillion collections last year. 90% of the contributions came from taxes, while 10% were from non-tax sources.

According to the Treasury, the improved revenue was due to the Customs’ collections, which surpassed its ₱721.5 billion target by 9.4% to ₱789.2 billion.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue collected ₱2.156 trillion from January to November, up 12% compared with ₱1.915 trillion in November last year.

Earlier, Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said the budget deficit this 2022 may be lower due to higher-than-expected revenue collections of its two tax agencies.

“The government has ramped up efforts to maintain fiscal discipline through its revenue agencies, which have surpassed their programmed collections for 2022,” Diokno said.

Diokno expressed confidence that revenue collections will lower the government’s fiscal deficit due to higher economic activity supported by the effective tax administration.

To sustain these accomplishments, the government is implementing the country’s first-ever Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF). It will serve as the country’s blueprint for fiscal sustainability for the next six years.

The framework proposes measures that will improve tax administration, enhance the fairness and efficiency of the tax system, and promote sustainability to address climate change.

This strategy aims to help lower the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio to less than 60% by 2025, and further down to 51% by 2028.

Source: Manila Bulletin