Government revenue from tax collection in February totalled 158.92 billion baht, up 5.73 billion baht, or 3.7%, on the previous estimate, Somchai Sajjapongse, director general of the Fiscal Policy Office at the Finance Ministry, said on Friday.
The revenue collected over the month rose by 9.3% on February 2012, the director general said.
He attributed the increase to higher collections from excise tax on cars and on petroleum concessions, boosted by the government’s first car scheme and higher than expected petroleum output.
Tax collections over the past five months (Oct 2012-Feb 2013) totalled 830.23 billion baht, 95.41 billion baht, or 13%, higher than the set target, Mr Somchai said.
The revenue was up 22.4% from the same period last year, thanks to the higher than expected tax collections by the departments of revenue, excise and customs and more revenue sent to the state coffers by various state enterprises, he said.
This reflected the fact that the economy was continuing to grow, and particularly the rise in domestic demand and household income, the FPO chief added.