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SUBIC
BAY FREEPORT—The Subic Bay Freeport posted more than
P2.5 billion during the first half of the year, largely
from the collection of taxes and duties.
In a
report on the financial results of the former US naval
facility, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA)
said cash receipts in customs duties and taxes totaled
P1.81 billion during the first six months of the year
and income- tax collections totaled P753 million.
The
P2.5-billion total does not include some P2.3 billion in
non-cash collections posted by the Bureau of Customs
(BOC) here in Subic from January to May, the SBMA said.
The
combined collection represents a 1-percent rise over the
total receipts registered by the BOC and the Bureau of
Internal Revenue (BIR) from January to June last year,
the SBMA added.
In a
brief submitted by the BOC to the SBMA, the bureau also
said the collection performance during the first six
months of the year grew by P133 million from P1.68
billion a year earlier.
The
customs bureau said its remittances came largely from
duties and taxes paid by Federal Express and other
locators in the Subic Bay Freeport, particularly those
that deal in oil, motor vehicles and general
merchandise.
It added
that its biggest collection of P368 million was in June.
The June receipts reflected a 40-percent increase over
year-earlier numbers, or a difference of P130 million.
Internal-revenue collections, meanwhile, rose to P753
million in the first half of the year, up 4 percent from
receipts of P727 million a year earlier.
BIR
receipts in Subic, meanwhile, were derived from income
taxes of free-port employees, income taxes of locators,
value-added tax, as well as percentage tax.
The BIR
said in its report that it posted its biggest collection
in April, when it raked in P210 million in taxes.
SBMA
Administrator Armand Arreza said these results show the
SBMA’s investment-promotion program could bring in more
companies to invest and create jobs in the Subic Bay
Freeport.
He added
that the growing number of business locators here would
also help boost the government’s revenue-collection
efforts. |
