Duties and taxes remitted to the National Treasury by the two revenue collection agencies in this free port showed an increase of 9.3 percent in the first quarter of 2009 when compared to records in the same period last year.
According to Administrator Armand Arreza of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), the combined collections generated by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Subic reached P1.29 billion in January to March this year, an increase of more than P100 thousand over the P1.18-billion total in 2008.
”Basically, Subic made some gains but experienced some losses as far as first quarter revenue collection is concerned,” Arreza said.
“Overall, however, Subic revenue generation posted a positive total and that is consistent with SBMA efforts to increase income in the Port of Subic,” Arreza added.
Based on reports submitted by the BIR, cash receipts derived from income and profit taxes, value-added taxes, percentage taxes and other taxes paid for by some 956 registered enterprises and port users in Subic totaled P252.08 million in the first three months of 2009.
The BIR, however, reported that cash receipts dropped by 23.61 percent from last year’s first quarter receipts amounting to P329.99 million.
On the other hand, the BoC reported that duties and taxes collected during the same period increased by 21.99 percent from P855.7 million last year to P1,043.85 million this year, or a positive variance of P188.15 million.
BoC cash receipts were sourced from importation duties and taxes on oil, motor vehicles, general merchandise, as well as the last two months of operation of cargo giant FedEx that transferred its Asia-Pacific hub from Subic to Guangzhou, China last February.
In the same period, the BoC also reported that non-cash collection through deferred payments and government-to-government transactions reached a total of P848.3 million, or 41.21 percent more that last year’s P600.7 million.
These receipts were obtained from importations by the National Food Authority (NFA) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
The BoC also reported that it was able to surpass its first quarter 2009 target by 55.9 percent. The agency pegged its first quarter target at P669.5 million and posted P1.04 billion in cash collection alone.
Meanwhile, Arreza said the SBMA is confident of sustaining the economic growth in this free port with the entry of 30 new investment projects in the first quarter.
He said that the new projects are projected to infuse some P1.5 billion in fresh investments and initially generate close to 600 new jobs, thereby contributing further to tax collections in the Subic Freeport.
SBMA records indicated that the biggest annual revenue in combined collections by the BIR and the BoC was posted in 2007 at P5.32 billion, followed by last year’s combined collection amounting to P5.27 billion. (SBMA Corporate Communications)
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