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VALUE-ADDED tax (VAT) collected during the first five
months totaled P42.918 billion, the Department of
Finance (DoF) reported on Tuesday.
The
amount is about 36 percent of the P119.588-billion
collection goal for the year.
Of the
amount, P19.023 billion, or 16 percent, were collected
by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
Another
P23.895 billion, or 20 percent, were collected by the
Bureau of Customs (BOC). Officials at the DoF said the
January-May collection data boosted optimism the
full-year goal would be achieved.
Last
year the government planned to collect P88.883 billion
in VAT from transactions in goods sold and services.
The BIR
and the BOC, however, overshot their programmed
collection target by a combined P51 million.
VAT
collection in 2006 also exceeded by P1.098 billion the
P75.79 billion goal as total collections reached P76.888
billion.
In the
final two months of 2005, the year the original
19-percent VAT was first collected, the total take stood
at P4.448 billion. The collection goal that year was
P13.568 billion. The BIR managed to collect P294
million, and the BOC P4.154 billion.
Despite
support by Malacañang for its implementation, the
adjusted VAT rate of 12 percent remains a target of
widespread calls for its abolition.
Even the
influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the
Philippines has urged the government to scrap it
altogether, saying the tax has become more of a burden
on consumers, particularly the poor.
Nevertheless, the government wants to retain it or risk
losing more than P73 billion in revenues that have been
set aside for the delivery of basic government services
in terms of health, security and education. |
