e-VAT revenues reach 40 percent of target in May

MANILA, Philippines - Expanded value-added tax (e-VAT) collections for the first five months of the year reached nearly forty percent, increasing optimism that the national government will meet its full-year goals. Data from the Department of Finance (DOF) indicated that revenues from the consumption tax already reached P42.918 billion, comprising 36 percent of the government’s annual e-VAT collection targets. Manila expects to collect some P119.588 billion from e-VAT this year. Of this figure, some P19.023 billion, or 16 percent were by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Philippines’ largest revenue source. For its part, the Bureau of Customs (BOC)—the government’s second-largest source of revenue—was able to collect a separate P23.895 billion. Although the government sought to collect as much as P88.833 billion from e-VAT last year, both the BIR and the BOC exceeded their goals, allowing government to reduce its fiscal deficit. In 2006, e-VAT collections also breached targets by P1.098 billion to P76.888 billion instead. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently announced that it will not stop charging the e-VAT since collections have already been allotted for the delivery of basic services including health and education. - GMANews.TV