BIR likely to meet collection target for January

Even though it missed its collection target last year, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has remained hopeful that it would achieve its collection goal of P71.9 billion for January this year. BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said in an interview that the bureau is on track to reach its collection target for January. "We're hopeful we will meet that." The BIR intended to raise P71.9 billion in January, P7.9 billion more than the P64 billion the agency collected in the same month last year. The bureau collected only P821.3 billion last year, P38.7 billion below its target of P860 billion, according to Finance Department's preliminary figures. The BIR collected P750.3 billion in 2009. Heneras said that the BIR would double its efforts to meet the revenue target of P940 billion for this year. The BIR and the Bureau of Customs — government's two main revenue agencies — are under pressure to meet their respective collection targets to help the Aquino administration contain the government's fiscal deficit. The government managed to register a budget surplus of P482 million in November last year — the second monthly surplus of the Aquino administration. In August last year, the government posted a budget surplus of P1.3 billion, government records showed. The budget surplus in November last year was a turnaround from the P6.4-billion budget deficit posted in November in 2009. Also, the November 2010 budget surplus was a reversal from the P10.5-billion budget deficit in October last year. The budget surplus in November last year brought the January-November fiscal position to a budget deficit of P269.8 billion, narrower than the P272.5 billion registered in the same period in 2009. This year, the Aquino administration is hoping to contain the budget deficit at P290 billion or 3.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from last year's programmed ceiling of P325 billion or 3.9 percent of GDP. — JE/OMG, GMANews.TV