CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Regional Office here announced that it has collected P1.4 billion revenue in Central Luzon for the month of January alone.
“This is almost 25 percent higher than our collection goal for the first month of the year,” BIR said.
Last year, the BIR regional office here collected some P800 million in revenue taxes.
“The rise in collection is due to many reasons. One is that the economy has been showing signs of recovery and with campaign funds pouring in from local and national candidates we have been seeing a renewed invigoration in the local market economy of Central Luzon,” BIR Regional Director Romulo Aguila Jr. said.
The Regional District Office of Pampanga-South registered the highest collection with some P261 million in revenue collection. The collection is 35 percent higher than the initial target of the BIR for the said district.
The Regional District Office of Pampanga-North registered the second highest collection with P162 million.
Aguila said that the systematic approach in revenue collection implemented by the BIR is also instrumental in the increase in revenue collection. This approaches included the strict implementation of the Run After Tax Evaders (Rate) program late last year.
He also attributed the increase of their collection to the tax collection measures they have implemented such as Oplan Kandado and the Santax Claus, which was launched last December.
Aguila also expressed optimism that through the imposition of a five percent withholding tax on elective candidates' expenses and the implementation of full automation of accounting for large taxpayers, BIR will be able to further improve its tax collection for 2010.
He also said that the BIR here is targeting a P12 billion collection this year and plans to see an increase of collection by some P2 billion.