MANILA — The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law is delivering the expected revenues for the national government, an official from the Department of Finance (DOF) said.
“TRAIN revenues are broadly in line with projections,” DOF Assistant Secretary Tony Lambino told the Philippine News Agency in a text message.
The government is expecting that the TRAIN law will add around PHP90 billion to its tax collections from raising taxes in products such as oil, cigarettes, sugar-sweetened beverages, and automotive vehicles.
This will offset the PHP147 foregone taxes for this year due to lowering of personal income tax rate.
“Overall revenues are meeting the target,” added Lambino.
DOF economic bulletin on national government revenue performance for January to May 2018 showed that tax collections in this period increased by 18 percent to PHP1.07 trillion from PHP901 billion in the same period in 2017.
Of the said amount, tax collections of the Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR) reached PHPPHP827.7 billion this year, up by 15 percent from PHP717 billion in the previous year.
“National government revenues rose by 19 percent in the first five months of 2018 as the first phase of TRAIN took effect and tax administration improvements were enhanced, almost doubling nominal GDP (gross domestic product) growth which registered 9.7 percent during the first quarter,” the DOF economic bulletin released on Thursday noted.
“Fiscal space expanded by TRAIN 1 and tax administration enabled government to boost investments and growth,” it added.
On Wednesday, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Benjamin Diokno said government spending has sustained its momentum last month, which increased by 12 percent to PHP292 billion.
Diokno said other capital outlays and personnel services boosted the government’s expenditure in May.
Government spending on infrastructure amounted to PHP58 billion, up by 26 percent, with the completion of various projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Personnel services, on the other hand, grew by 20 percent to PHP107 billion in May 2018.
“We continue to make strides in the fiscal sector of the economy, and this is confirmed by the spending data. This should translate to better outcomes in the real economy, that is, more jobs for our people, improved standards of living, and robust economic activity,” said Diokno. (Kris Crismundo/PNA)
