Gov’t tax take, spending up in 2017

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III
(File photo by JOAN BONDOC / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

The country’s two biggest revenue agencies posted double-digit growth in their tax collections last year, which was matched by a similar pace of increase in state spending on public goods and services, according to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

In a text message to reporters, Dominguez said the cash revenue collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 2017 rose by 12.5 percent, citing preliminary Bureau of the Treasury data.
The growth in BIR collections translates to P1.763 trillion in tax revenue in 2017 up from P1.567 trillion in 2016. The 2017 BIR tax take, however, fell below the P1.829-trillion target for 2017.

The Bureau of Customs, meanwhile, grew its collection of import duties and other taxes by 17 percent last year, Dominguez said.

As such, the BOC’s 2017 take likely rose to P463.8 billion from 2016’s P396 billion.

In a separate statement, the BOC said data from its financial service showed total 2017 collections hitting P457.5 billion, 2.2 percent lower than the P467.9-billion target.

The double-digit growth in tax revenues recorded by the BIR and the BOC last year outpaced the 9-percent and 8-percent increase that the country’s two biggest revenue agencies, respectively, recorded in 2016.

As for expenditures, these jumped 13.8 percent in 2017 from P2.549 trillion in 2016.

As such, disbursements likely reached P2.9 trillion, although the growth was slightly slower than the 2016 growth of 14 percent.

The government targeted to spend P2.909 trillion on public goods and services in 2017. —BEN O. DE VERA