Revenue collection narrowly misses target

Revenue collection narrowly misses target

Government revenue for the first five months of this fiscal year fell only 0.6% short of target as higher revenue contributions from state enterprises and government agencies almost offset the lower-than-expected tax collections.

For the October-to-February period government revenue stood at 802.8 billion baht, 4.67 billion baht lower than target, said director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) Somchai Sujjapongse. He said the amount also declined 3% over the same period a year before.

The fiscal year runs from Oct 1-Sept 30.

Months of political uncertainty coupled with the economic doldrums have stoked worries that government revenue for the 2014 fiscal year will miss the target set at 2.275 trillion baht.

Mr Somchai said a 31% and a 22.6% higher-than-targeted contribution by state enterprises and other government agencies, respectively, helped the overall revenue collection through February to marginally miss the target, while collections at the three main tax agencies were 34.8 billion baht short of target.

The Revenue Department’s tax collection was a mere 1.5% below target, while the Excise Department and the Customs Department missed the target by 11% and 16%, respectively. A 2.1% lower-than-targeted value-added tax (VAT) collection was attributable to the Revenue Department’s lower tax revenue, he said. VAT on imports, 7.8% lower than target.

Mr Somchai said VAT on consumer goods outpaced the target by 2.8% during the first five months of this fiscal year and this reflected that domestic consumption remained stable to a degree.

The falling new car sales after the boost in sales driven by the government’s excise tax rebate scheme for first-time car buyers were blamed for the Excise Department’s lower-than-targeted tax revenue, he said.

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