Net revenues from TRAIN up 65% to P55.6B in H1
Net revenues generated through the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act rose by almost two-thirds in the first half, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said.
Citing preliminary data, Dominguez said TRAIN’s end-June revenues amounted to P55.6 billion, up 65 percent year-on-year.
Dominguez said the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the country’s biggest tax collection agency, exceeded its six-month TRAIN target by P1.8 billion.
As for the Bureau of Customs (BOC), it surpassed its TRAIN collections goal by P1.7 billion, Dominguez added.
The Finance chief said tax collection was on the rise partly due to the TRAIN law. He noted the government’s total revenue take as of August rose 9.5 percent year-on-year to P2.09 trillion, of which 90 percent were tax revenues.
“Tax collection registered a growth of 9.8 percent [at end-August] of 2019. BIR collections rose by 10.6 percent, translating to an additional P138.7 billion in revenues over the same period last year. On the other hand, BOC collections grew by 7.2 percent or a P27.7-billion increase from the same period of last year,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez also attributed to TRAIN the increase in tax effort or the share of taxes collected vis-a-vis the gross domestic product at 14.7 percent—the highest in 20 years and close to the Asean average.
“The passage of the TRAIN law and continuing administrative reforms in our revenue agencies brought about this record performance,” he said.
TRAIN, which commenced last year, jacked up excise on cigarettes, oil products, sugar sweetened beverages and motor vehicles, among other goods and services. It, however, slashed personal income tax rates to ease the burden of taxpayers.
Last year, TRAIN net revenues reached P68.4 billion, 8.1-percent bigger than the P63.3-billion target.
For this year, the government had programmed to collect a total of P140.6 billion from tax reform—P113.1 billion from TRAIN and P27.5 billion from the ongoing estate tax and delinquency tax amnesties.
