Tax revenues finally top target in May
Bangkok Post – 24 June 2009
WICHIT CHANTANUSORNSIRI
Tax revenues for May exceeded targets for the first time this fiscal year, thanks in part to tax increases in fuel, alcohol, beer and tobacco, the Finance Ministry said yesterday.
Government revenues in May were 217 billion baht, 3.3% over the target.
Fuel tax revenue jumped 56.8% in May from the year before, with alcoholic beverage revenue up 25.9% year-on-year and beer tax revenues up 10%.
The government estimates that recent tax increases for fuel, spirits, beer and tobacco will generate an extra 70 billion baht in income for the government each year. For the four months remaining in the fiscal year to Sept 30, the tax hikes are projected to lift government revenues by 23.8 billion baht.
In any case, even though government revenues in May met or exceeded targets, inflows were still 21.6% lower than in the same period last year.
For the first eight months of fiscal 2009, from October to May, government revenues totalled 874 billion baht, or 11.1% lower than the target.
Somchai Sujjapongse, the director-general of the ministry's Fiscal Policy Office, noted one promising sign was that value-added tax collections totalled 32 billion baht in May, significantly higher than the 20 billion baht per month collected earlier this year.
"Even though VAT was lower than the 40 billion baht in revenues collected in normal times, the increase from previous months is a good sign that consumption is picking up," he said.
Over the first eight months of the fiscal year, the Revenue Department reported tax collections of 700 billion baht, or 7.7% under the target, with the Excise Department 15.5% under the target to 179 billion and the Customs Department off 20% to 52.7 billion.
State enterprise revenues over the same period totalled 56.5 billion baht, or 16.7% below the target, while other revenues totalled 57.8 billion baht, or 6% above the target.
The government forecasts the budget deficit this year could rise by as much as 280 billion baht over initial targets due to the decline in tax revenues and cost of additional stimulus programmes under the current economic crisis.
Authorities had previously estimated a budget deficit of 350 billion baht for the fiscal year, including the costs of a 116-billion-baht supplementary stimulus programme approved in March.
Parliament this week authorised an executive decree authorising the government to borrow an additional 400 billion baht above limits set under the current budget law to help offset the shortfall in revenues.
|
