THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) fell short of its P171.22-billion collection target for October as mobility restrictions to curb the Covid-19 spread trammeled economic activity. BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel SD. Guballa told the BusinessMirror governmentâs tax haul for the month settled at P162.99 billion, 4.81-percent short of the target for the month.
Guballa said they failed to hit the goal because the âeconomy [was] not yet in full throttle.â
The Alert Level 4 mobility restrictions imposed on Metro Manila during the first half of the month were only downgraded to Alert Level 3 from October 16 to 31. Several areas were also placed under varied conditions of community quarantine (CQ): âmodified enhancedâ CQ; general CQ, or GCQ, with heightened restrictions; GCQ only; and, âmodifiedâ GCQ.
Nonetheless, Guballa said the October collection exceeded by 6.88 percent the P152.5 billion the BIR was able to raise in the same month in 2021.
Meanwhile, the bureauâs collection from January to October stood at P1.71 trillion, slightly breaching its P1.703-trillion goal by 0.41 percent. This was also a 7-percent jump from the P1.598 trillion the BIR collected in the same 10-month-period in 2020.
So far, the bureau has collected 82.2 percent of its P2.081-trillion full-year collection target for this year. The BIR collected P1.95 trillion last year, exceeding its downscaled revenue collection target of P1.686 trillion.
Guballa said the BIR is still âhoping to achieveâ its target by the end of the year.
The government hopes to raise more revenues this year to cover the expected higher budget deficit. The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) projects the deficit to reach a new record high of 1.86 trillion or 9.3 percent of the countryâs gross domestic product.
As of end-September, the countryâs cumulative budget deficit widened to P1.14 trillion.
The DBCC earlier slashed its growth projection for the Philippine economy this year to 4 to 5 percent from 6 percent to 7 percent previously, due to the re-imposition of lockdown measures.
Nonetheless, economic managers are optimistic that the Philippine economy is now on track to reach the high end of the revised governmentâs growth target following the 7.1-percent economic growth in the third quarter of this year. Year-to-date growth is at 4.9 percent.