End-February BIR, BOC tax take soars due to TRAIN, says Finance chief

Tax collections of the country’s two biggest revenue agencies jumped by double-digits in the first two months partly due to the boost from the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said.

Speaking at the 28th Inter-Pacific Bar Association Annual Meeting and Conference, Dominguez said the TRAIN Law “made revenues easier to collect” given a simpler tax system.

“In the first two months of this year since the TRAIN was passed, we are actually collecting more revenues than expected,” Dominguez said.

Citing Department of Finance data, he said the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) tax take grew 10.8 percent to P280.6 billion in the first two months of the year from P253.3 billion a year ago.

Import duties and other taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) jumped 26.5 percent to P85.6 billion as of February from P66.8 billion last year.

Signed by President Duterte in December, the TRAIN law under Republic Act No. 10963 jacked up or slapped new excise taxes on oil, cigarettes, sugary drinks and vehicles to compensate for the restructured personal income tax regime that raised the tax-exempt cap to an annual salary of P250,000.

He said that under the TRAIN law, “income tax rates of 99 percent of Filipinos were reduced.”

“To offset that, we raised excise taxes mainly on products that harm the environment and public health,” Dominguez added.

He said that as the government collected more revenue, “we are confident the aggressive infrastructure buildup we initiated will be adequately funded.”

Under the “Build, Build, Build” program, the government plans to roll out 75 flagship projects, with about half targeted to be finished within President Duterte’s term. Spending until 2022 was estimated at P8 trillion.—BEN O. DE VERA