The government is eyeing to boost its dwindling revenues by allowing more business to operate through more relaxed community quarantine restrictions.
“That is why we are opening the economy. We are encouraging our citizens to safeguard their health so they could return to work. The tax we collect depend the people who have a livelihood,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an online briefing.
The Palace official made the statement in response to the report of the Department of Finance (DOF) that government revenues were down by 12.17 percent year-on-year from January to August.
This despite higher revenue collection registered by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Large scale community quarantine since March, which covered National Capital Region (NCR), has disrupted most of the economic activities nationwide.
Chief implementer of the government’s national policy on Covid-19 Carlito Galvez earlier said more business will be able to operate as local government units intensify their granular and localized quarantine instead of the previous province-wide lockdowns.
The Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), however, maintained the lower revenue collection will continue for the remaining months of the year.
It it anticipating by year-end, the government will only collect P2.52 trillion worth of revenue compared to that of 2019, which reached P3.14 trillion.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes