By Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
Reporter

TAXES AND OTHER DUTIES collected by the country’s two main revenue-generating agencies rose in the first semester from a year ago, but the state’s income for that period still fell short of target.

According to documents obtained by reporters on Wednesday, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P851.43 billion in the first six months of the year, up 8.68% from the P783.42 billion posted in the same period last year.

Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran confirmed the figures saying: “BIR collected P851.43 billion in end-June 2017, then last year P783.42 billion, so 8.7%.”

This first-half tax haul is equivalent to 46.55% of the P1.829-trillion full-year target set by the BIR.

In June alone, the tax bureau raked in P134.66 billion, increasing by 8.58% from P124.02 billion recorded in the same month in 2016.

However, it was P10.71 billion off the P145.37-billion target for that month. The BIR did not respond to a request for comment.

The Bureau of Customs meanwhile grew its revenues by 11.29% in the first half to P212.08 billion from P190.55 billion a year ago. The agency’s revenue target for the entire 2017 is P467.9 billion, and the first-semester results did not reach even half of that.

“The growth in imports is high,” noted Mr. Beltran.

In June, Customs collections grew by 5.52% to P37.22 billion from P35.27 billion in the same month in 2016, though also below the month’s P38.73-billion target.

Mr. Beltran, who was the Finance department’s chief economist, traced the higher customs revenues from higher crude oil prices coupled with the depreciation of the peso.

“Crude price went up 61.1% from $52.8 per barrel this year in January to April, compared with $32.77 (per barrel) last year. So almost 61.1% up,” he said.

“There’s a weak effect (from the peso) because there is a depreciation. Exchange rate is P49.93 this year, average from January to June, compared with P46.91 last year. 6.45% depreciation,” he added.

Bureau of Customs spokesperson and Office of the Commissioner chief of staff Mandy Therese M. Anderson said that the shortfall was due to a decline in import volume for the month, as well as a ransomware attack against a shipping giant that stalled the processing of shipments.

“We are currently innovating solutions to sustain efficient collection despite drop in volume,” she said in a text message on Thursday.

“One is to require importers to fill up and submit the Supplemental Declaration on Values (SDV) so that correct valuation of freight, insurance, commissions, royalties, cost of packaging and other charges will be determined. Second is the requirement to submit the Charter Party in bulk shipments to ensure accurate freight rate,” Ms. Anderson added.

“Third is the initiative to identify attributable officials and personnel and to allocate to them individual collection targets so that everyone will be efficient in collection.”

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