MANILA — The government is seen raking in nearly P4 trillion in revenues this year as it ramps up tax administration measures and digitalization to boost state coffers.
Latest estimates from the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) showed that revenue collection for 2023 would range from P3.84 trillion to as much as P3.9 trillion.
This is three percent to five percent above the P3.73 trillion target set by the economic team during the last DBCC meeting in June.
The DBCC held a special meeting late Friday to discuss the government’s revenue and disbursement performance, state agencies’ spending catch-up plans, and ways to address procurement bottlenecks.
The DBCC, however, did not revisit macroeconomic parameters assumptions such as gross domestic product (GDP) and inflation, among others.
“This is just a special meeting to update us with emerging numbers. The regular DBCC meeting will be in December,” DBCC chair and Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said in a Viber message.
During the nine-month period, total revenue collection improved 6.8 percent to P2.84 trillion as against the P2.66 trillion in the same period last year, as both tax and non-tax revenues increased.
It also surpassed the programmed revenue collection of P2.76 trillion by nearly three percent.
With the revised revenue target, the latest collection accounts for about 74 percent of the goal.
According to the DBCC, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) are implementing several reforms to strengthen tax administration and enhance revenue collection.
This includes digitalization programs intended to eliminate corruption, increase transparency, and improve the ease of paying taxes.
The economic team has also committed to closely work with Congress for the passage of the previous administration’s remaining tax reforms on passive income and financial intermediaries taxation and real property valuation and assessment, as well as new tax measures.
These include the excise tax on single-use plastics, rationalization of the mining fiscal regime, motor-vehicle road users’ tax, excise tax on sweetened beverages and junk foods.
Also covered are the tax on pre-mixed alcohol, value-added tax on digital service providers, carbon taxation, capital market development bill, as well as the military and uniformed personnel pension reform bill.
As of now, the only revenue-enhancing measures that are moving forward are the taxes on digital transactions and single-use plastics, as well as the ease of paying taxes which would enhance collection efficiency. (philstar)