Customs chief admits 2015 collection goal unattainable

Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RICHARD A. REYES

Commissioner Alberto D. Lina has conceded that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) could collect only up to P400 billion in import duties and taxes this year, with foregone revenues from cheaper oil expected to hit P75 billion.

Lina told reporters on Monday night that the “doable” collections figure for 2015 would be P390 billion to P400 billion, or below this year’s target of P436.6 billion.

The customs chief said the foregone revenues would come mainly from imported petroleum products, citing that global oil prices might hit as low as $50 per barrel before the end of this year.

This was despite the volume of oil imports growing to date, he said.

Collections from oil products make up about 30 percent of the BOC’s yearly take.

Lina nonetheless said that both the volume of non-oil goods as well as the value of taxes and duties being collected from them were on the rise.

He said the increasing volumes of capital equipment, imported vehicles and construction materials from abroad are reflecting domestic growth in manufacturing, consumer spending and infrastructure.

In the first half, the BOC collected P178.4 billion, up 2.9 percent year-on-year.

The first-half tax take, however, was 11.8 percent lower than the P202.2-billion end-June target.

Lina had said that one viable intervention to arrest the slower growth of the BOC’s collections so far due to foregone revenues from cheap oil was to jack up the excise tax slapped on petroleum products, which had stayed low and unchanged since the mid-1990s.

Under the BOC’s adjusted quarterly targets, it should collect almost P112 billion in duties and taxes in the third quarter, and the highest three-month goal of P125.5 billion by the fourth quarter.

For 2016, the BOC was tasked to collect P498.7 billion, 14.2 percent higher than this year’s goal.