Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said he will thwart efforts to impose new taxes and put to task the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to improve revenue collections to close the gap in budget deficit.
In a radio interview in Cagayan, the Senate President said the revenue collection agencies should improve their performance “because we’re running on deficit and we’re borrowing money to run the government.”
In 2009, the government posted a record budget deficit of P298.5 billion, exceeding the shortfall scenario of the Department of Finance (DOF) by P8.3 billion. This year’s budget deficit is projected to hit P293 billion.
“We will have to improve the performance of the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue, dahil maraming leakage. Malaking pera ang nawawala dahil sa smuggling,” said Enrile, who is running for reelection under Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP).
Total collection of the BIR for the first quarter of 2010 hit P172.3 billion, or an increase of 9.25 percent from the target of P157.7 billion.
The customs bureau, on the other hand, reported that its first-quarter collection reached P48.81 billion as of March 22, an increase of about P10 billion from last quarter’s figure but still short of the P6.32 billion target for the period.
Despite the slight improvement in collection, the government expects the budget gap to swell to exceed the target of P110.94 billion during the first three months of the year.
The agency is tasked to collect P830 billion in 2010, which is P45 billion lower than last year’s program of P875 billion.
At the same time, Enrile said he will oppose any imposition of new taxes, particularly the plan to implement a 12-percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on toll fees because this will unnecessarily burden the people.
“I will oppose the imposition of new taxes kasi ang magbabayad noon ay ang maliliit na tao, ‘yung mga ordinaryong tao, ‘yung mga mamimili,” Enrile said. “Dapat ang tutukan natin ay ‘yung prinsipyo ng taxation ay ang ability to pay. ‘Yung sino ang malaki ang kinikita, ‘yung ang malaki ang babayaran na buwis.”
