BIR's Nov. collection P3.6B short of target

(Updated 7:07 p.m.) Collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) totaled P82.43 billion in November, P3.6 billion short of its P86.03-billion target for the months. Nevertheless, the BIR said it was the second highest monthly collection following its April collection of P91.16 billion. The agency also compared its November collection to the P12.47-billion it collected a year earlier. The collection last month brought the January-November tax-take to P753.32 billion. The BIR is tasked to collect P860 billion this year. Nevertheless, the BIR said the collections in November reflected a P71.41-billion or 10.5-percent improvement over the P682 billion collected in November 2009. With the latest collection figures, BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said the agency continues to hope that the original target of P830 billion would still be achieved. “The P830-billion target requires a cumulative growth of 10.3 percent over 2009 collections, and already [the] January to November BIR collections have expanded by 10.5 percent," Henares said. The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), which sets the country’s macroeconomic assumptions, had adjusted the BIR target for 2010 to P860.4 billion from P830.4 billion on expectations that the economy would expand faster this year, translating to higher tax collections. Because of the holiday spending this month, the collection might bring the kind of money needed to meet the target, according to the BIR chief. “The holiday season and all the business activity that it brings may just be what the BIR needs to reach its target for December." The Aquino administration relies on collections of the BIR and the Bureau of Customs to finance the P325-billion deficit equivalent to 3.9 percent of the gross domestic product this year. The deficit as of end-October stood at P270.3 billion, or below the P292.8-billion programmed for the period. — VS, GMANews.TV