Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III
MANILA – Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III expects the government to hit its revenue targets starting in the last quarter of the year as the economy recovers from the pandemic and tax administration improves.
In an interview over CNBC television Monday, Dominguez said the domestic economy is resilient, citing it entered the virus-induced pandemic in a strong financial situation due to numerous tax administration reforms.
“These reforms helped us weather the financial impact of this Covid (coronavirus) virus,” he said.
Dominguez was referring to the reforms that include the rice tariffication law, increase in fuel taxes, cut in personal income tax, the fuel marking program and the imposition of tax for sugary drinks.
Economic managers revised down the collection goals of both the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for 2020 due to the economic impact of the pandemic but were surpassed by the main revenue generating agencies.
From an earlier combined collection target of PHP3.255 trillion, the agencies’ goals were revised in May and then in July last year to PHP2.187 trillion.
At the end of last year, total combined revenues of these agencies reached PHP2.43 trillion.
BIR’s collection last year amounted to PHP1.899 trillion, higher than its revised target of PHP1.685 trillion.
On the other hand, BOC collected PHP533.88 billion, higher than its revised target of PHP501.33 billion.
For 2021, government revenues are projected to rise to PHP2.88 trillion and then to PHP3.31 trillion by 2022.
Amid the government’s improved financial position, Dominguez said the national government has the capacity to vaccinate 55 percent of the adult population, or about 57 to 60 million, against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
He said the majority of these beneficiaries are likely to get the vaccine by end-2021.
While this figure seems small relative to the country’s around 110 million population, Dominguez said this is enough since around 40 million Filipinos are below 18 years old, whom medical experts said are not recommended to get the vaccine.
He said around 10 to 13 million are expected to benefit from the Covid-19 vaccine program of local government units (LGUs) and the private sector while a lesser number do not wish to get the vaccine.
He added the national government estimates this vaccination program to cost around PHP82.5 billion. (PNA)
