ILOILO City – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected taxes in Panay Island reaching P11,245,584,864.87 last year.
Panay Island is BIR’s Revenue Region No. 11.
The 2019 collection was 19.12 percent higher (P1,805,011,198.96) than 2018’s Panay collection of P9,440,573,665.91, said Director Ricardo Espiritu.
All the five revenue district offices (RDO) in the island exceed their 2018 collections. These were the following:
* Kalibo (Aklan), P1,999,359,951.27 – 34.79 percent higher than 2018’s P1,483,320,360.69
* San Jose (Antique), P666,857,596.35 – 19.27 percent higher than 2018’s P559,105,512.64
* Iloilo City, P6,443,471,711.66 – 17.44 percent higher than 2018’s P5,486,428,220.70
* Roxas City, P1,194,079,470.38 – 12.43 percent higher than 2018’s P1,062,026,218.73
* Zarraga, P941,816,135.21 – 10.84 percent higher than 2018’s P849,693,353.15
According to Espiritu, Revenue Region No. 11’s 2019 collection exceeded by 1.12 percent (P124,894,864.87) its target revenue of P11,120,690,000.
He attributed the increase to BIR’s constant engagement with taxpayers, especially businesses.
It helped, said Espiritu, that he was already familiar with Revenue Region No. 11’s territory. He had served BIR’s Iloilo City RDO between 2004 and 2005 before he was assigned elsewhere.
In April last year, he was reassigned to Panay Island.
This 2020, Revenue Region No. 11 hopes for a 20-percent jump from its 2019 revenue collection./PN
