Tax effort climbs on higher revenues
The government’s tax effort climbed in the first half of 2018 from a year earlier on the back of a double-digit expansion in tax revenue, the Finance department reported over the weekend.
Tax collections as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 15.23 percent in the first six months of 2018 from 14.22 percent, it said in an economic bulletin.
The latest figure, the department claimed, is “the highest first semester tax effort ever achieved.”
“Almost a half or 0.4 percentage point is due to Train and the rest or 0.61 percentage points to tax administration improvements,” it added.
Train or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law exempts those earning annual taxable incomes of P250,000 and below from paying personal income taxes. In exchange, new taxes were imposed on fuel, sugar-sweetened beverages and non-essential cosmetic procedures, among others.
Tax revenues grew by 17.4 percent in the six months to June, the Finance department said, with tax and customs bureau collections rising by 13.7 percent and 32.9 percent, respectively, “both exceeding the 9.6 percent nominal GDP (gross domestic product) growth.“
Overall, national government revenues rose by 19.9 percent in the first semester.
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