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THE
percentage tax collection of the Bureau of Internal
Revenue (BIR) failed to measure up in the first nine
months and forced the Department of Finance (DOF) to
question whether leaks in the system or inefficiency on
the part of collectors brought the actual tax take to
only P32.4 billion.
BIR
chief Lilian Hefti, who took over the agency’s helm in
the third quarter, was tasked to raise at least P34.3
billion for the period.
Apart
from the percentage tax, collections from net income and
profits, excise tax and the value-added tax also fell
below expectations during a period when more economic
activities presumably occurred.
Percentage tax collection includes those raised from
sales taxes, the premium tax, the gross receipts tax,
amusement tax and the franchise tax.
Finance
Undersecretary Gil Beltran found it odd the percentage
tax collection should fall at a time when industries and
the financial-services sectors grew at a healthy pace of
10 percent.
On
balance, this also corresponded to the period when low
interest rates dropped to where they are at present,
possibly resulting to low collection of the gross
receipts tax.
According to Beltran, the DOF has gone back to its data
bank to try and explain the anomaly.
He
explained the lower-than-target excise tax take of only
P38.5 billion to the inelasticity of consumption given
that at least P40.3 billion worth of excise tax were to
have been collected during the period.
“The
consumption of more cigarettes, or alcohol or even fuel
oil does not necessarily rise along with the people’s
increased capacity to purchase them,” Beltran said to
explain the inelasticity concept.
Excise
tax collection for the period was P1.8 billion or 5.3
percent lower than target.
Excise
tax is levied against the consumption of oil, cigarettes
and liquor.
VAT
collection, seen to hit at least P138.9 billion for the
period, fell below the target by P29.1 billion as only
P109.8 billion was realized.
Beltran
said the DOF study will also try to explain the huge
disparity between actual and programmed VAT collection.
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