MANILA – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has cut its collection target for this year to P2.271 trillion, slightly lower than the initial goal of P2.33 trillion, an official said Wednesday.
The 2019 goal is around 14 percent higher than the total collection of P1.962 trillion in 2018 – the first year of the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.
Enacted in December 2017, the TRAIN law reduced personal income tax rates and at the same time increased excise taxes for petroleum products, automobiles, and imposed levy on sugar sweetened beverages.
“Normally, we reflect single digit increase in collection. For comparison ng ’17 to ’18, that’s double digit; more than 10 percent po tayo ng increase. But with the goal, we are short but however we were able to achieve and collect 96 percent of the assigned goal [P2.043 trillion] po ng BIR for 2018,” BIR deputy commissioner for legal affairs Marissa Cabreros said at a news conference in Malacañang.
The BIR official did not say what prompted the revision even though she attributed the 2018 total collection to lower revenues from petroleum products and unmet collection targets from sweetened beverages, cosmetic procedures and value added tax. (GMA News)
