Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) success in increasing tax collection will help the country achieve its goal of eradicating extreme poverty within one generation.
Dominguez said he is “confident the BIR’s performance this year will continue to improve, given the passage and implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, the Tax Amnesty Act, and the recently signed laws increasing excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco and vapor (vaping) products and e-cigarettes.”
BIR collection breached the P2-trillion mark as of last year.
BIR has been helping raise enough revenues for the government to spend big on infrastructure and social services to realize the goal of improving the lives of all law-abiding Filipinos, Dominguez said during the kick-off ceremonies of the BIR’s National Tax Campaign at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.
The BIR raised P2.18 trillion in revenues in 2019, up 11.3 percent from 2018 figures, and resulted in the Philippines raising its tax effort to 15.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), its best rate in 22 years.
“These revenue collection efforts will be supported by the BIR’s digitalization efforts and other administrative reforms to widen the tax base and simplify the process of tax collection,” he added.
“Clearly, the BIR is the spear point in our nation’s progress. So, as you go out there, building partnerships with our taxpayers in the framework of a dynamic modern tax system, remember that you are not just producing revenues. You are creating a better future for this country,” he also said.
Dominguez said improved revenue collections and tax administration have enabled the government to invest more in modernizing the nation’s logistics backbone, with public spending on infrastructure in 2018 rising to above 5 percent of GDP — the highest it has ever been and double the average infrastructure spending as a percentage of GDP for the last 50 years.
He pointed out infrastructure investments and expanded social programs are the drivers of economic growth, which is why despite slower global growth and other lingering external risks, the government expects the country’s internally driven GDP expansion this year to range between 6.5 and 7.5 percent.