The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P827.9 billion in taxes from January to May, exceeding its target by 3.1 percent mainly due to the higher excise tax rates slapped on various products under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act.
In a statement, the BIR said that on top of surpassing the P803-billion program for the five-month period, its collection also jumped 14.8 percent from P721.4 billion a year ago.
“Minus the goal from non-BIR operations [over which the bureau has no control], the surplus [against target] is higher at 3.8 percent or P29.4 billion,” the BIR said.
In May alone, collections reached P172.5 billion, up 8.6 percent from P158.8 billion in the same month last year.
The tax take last month also exceeded by 3.4 percent the P166.8-billion target.
“Minus the goal from non-BIR operations, the surplus is higher at 4.3 percent or P7.02 billion,” the agency said.
As such, “the bureau posted an achievement rate of 103.1 percent for January to May and 103.4 percent for the month of May,” it added.
In a speech before South Korean businessmen last week, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III attributed the above-target collections of the BIR as well as the Bureau of Customs as of end-May to “the effective implementation of the tax reform law,” which he said “enabled the government to sustain its aggressive spending policy without breaching the programmed budget deficit.”
Dominguez was referring to the TRAIN Law or Republic Act No. 10963, which since Jan. 1 this year jacked up or slapped new excise taxes on cigarettes, oil, sugary drinks and vehicles, among other goods, to compensate for the restructured personal income tax regime that raised the tax-exempt cap to an annual salary of P250,000.