Local governments’ H1 revenue collections up by 4%

Tax and nontax revenues collected by local governments in the first half of 2021 inched up by about 4 percent year-on-year to P168.9 billion amid easing quarantine restrictions and improving prospects due to the gradual reopening of the economy.

Collections by the local governments in the first half of last year was P162.8 billion.

Based on data from the Department of Finance’s Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), the local governments’ end-June tax revenue rose to P135.1 billion from P130.9 billion last year.

Due to mandatory deadlines, the local governments’ first quarter tax collections rose to P103.8 billion from P103 billion a year ago, while second quarter tax take grew to P32.1 billion from P27 billion.

First-half real property tax collections went up to P56.9 billion from P46.9 billion a year ago.

However, tax on businesses declined year-on-year to P71 billion from P78.9 billion.

Other taxes collected by local governments during the same period rose to P7.1 billion from P5 billion.

End-June nontax revenues also climbed to P33.9 billion from P31.9 billion a year ago.

For 2021, the BLGF had programmed local governments revenue collections to reach P223.9 billion. Had the COVID-19 pandemic not happened, local governments were expected to generate up to P321.6 billion this year.

Last year, local governments shored up their tax take, which were mostly based on 2019 or prepandemic gross receipts, but nontax collections declined and pulled down total revenue to P251.7 billion from P253.8 billion in 2019.

It was better than the downscaled goal of P193 billion for 2020.