Revenue performance in February mixed

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) expects to have exceeded its collection goal for February, while the Customs bureau said it had likely fallen short of its target. The BIR, which collects two-thirds of state revenues, collected P47.21 billion, according to preliminary data, against a P48.252-billion target for February, BIR Commissioner Joel Tan-Torres told reporters on Wednesday. Income and consumption taxes reached P44.9 billion, while the rest consisted of withholding tax on interest on government debt paper. "We are confident of exceeding the overall collection goal for February," he said, noting that the BIR expected P2-P3 billion more as data are updated. Customs Commissioner Napoleon L. Morales said by phone that while his agency had missed its P18.42-billion target for February, collecting P17.389 billion, this was because the "tax expenditure fund — a state import subsidy — worth P3 billion for the month was not used." The P17.389-billion cash collection exceeded the P15.428-billion target in this regard. — Louella D. Desiderio, BusinessWorld with Reuters