Sunday, April 20, 2008 'Goods' high prices can help boost revenue collection'
THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said the increase in the prices of goods in the world market has a positive impact on their revenue collection.
Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said the high prices actually balance out the adverse impact of the strong peso to the bureau's collection even as it has negative effects on the importers of commodities in the country.
He explained that in the past few months, the agency has been pulled down by the peso surge against the US currency since the assumptions set by the economic leaders in 2007 at P46-US$1 is no longer realistic compared to the current peso-dollar rate, which is now at P41-US$1.
Morales added that the dollar exchange rate plays a major factor in tax collections, as import valuation is dollar-based.
"Since the basis of the computations of duties and taxes on test values derived from the current prices, taxes will naturally be higher with the growing cost of goods," he said.
With this, the BOC chief is optimistic that they will be able to reach their target because of the current increase in the prices of basic commodities.
Customs records showed that the bureau posted a positive efficiency of 23.5 percent as it collected P49.693 billion, which is P9.472 billion more than its collection for the same period in 2007. (FP/Sunnex)
