Budget and Taxes

Improving state revenue and boosting FDIs April 16, 2024 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr.  https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/04/16/588160/improving-state-revenue-and-boosting-fdis/ Mid-April of each year is the deadline for the filing of income tax with no penalty and many taxpayers beat the deadline, so government revenues are highest in April each year. I checked the revenues for the first two months of 2024 and compared them with the same period in 2021 to 2023. Practically all major sources of revenues increased in that period, except for excise tax collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and fees and charges by other agencies (see Table 1). Among the related reports in  BusinessWorld  last week were: “Budget deficit projected to narrow further this year” (April 10), “Tobacco growers: Illegal vapes threatening farmer livelihoods” (April 14), and, “BIR releases implementing rules for Ease of Paying Taxes law” (April 14). The illicit trade

  Higher deficit ceilings point to dangerous trend April 9, 2024 | 12:02 am My Cup Of Liberty By Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr.  https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2024/04/09/586666/higher-deficit-ceilings-point-to-dangerous-trend/ Last week there were several important developments in the macroeconomic and fiscal situation of the Philippines. See these reports in  BusinessWorld : “NG debt hits record P15.18 trillion” (April 4), “Philippines lowers growth target for 2024, raises deficit ceilings” (April 4), “PSA lowers economy’s growth to 5.5% in 2023” (April 5), “Inflation accelerates for a second month in a row in March” (April 5). Public debt keeps rising, not falling. The GDP growth targets made by the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) were adjusted downwards. And the inflation rate rose to 3.7% in March — although this is just half of the 7.6% inflation in March 2023, the steady decline from October 2023 to January 2024 has halted. NEW MACROECONOMIC AND FISCAL TARGETS I