The government's revenue collection in the first four months of fiscal year 2024 has fallen short of the target, attributed to a significant decrease in oil taxes.
According to Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) director-general Pornchai Thiraveja, the government collected net revenue of 824 billion baht in the first four months of fiscal year 2024 (October 2023 to January 2024), down by 8.83 billion baht, or 1.1%, from the original target.
Mr Pornchai said the lower-than-expected revenue was the result of a cut in the diesel and gasoline tax rates during that period.
On an annual basis, the state's net revenue in the first four months of this fiscal year fell by 14.9 billion baht, or 1.8%, from the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
Mr Pornchai said a major reason for the lower revenue collection was an additional 36.6 billion baht in special government income recorded during the corresponding period in the preceding fiscal year, resulting in an elevated baseline.
If the special income was excluded, the government's revenue collection in the first four months of this fiscal year would be 2.7% higher than the corresponding period last year.
It has been noted that this latest government revenue collection result is the first time it has fallen below the predicted or targeted amount in the budget documentation.
Analysing the revenue collection performance of the three key tax departments -- the Revenue Department, Excise Department and Customs Department -- in the first four months of fiscal year 2024, it was found that the Revenue Department collected 622 billion baht, an increase of 1.5% from the corresponding period last year and surpassing the target by 1.1%.
The Excise Department collected 172 billion baht, which was 7.7% higher than the corresponding period last year but lower than the target by 12.1%. The Customs Department collected 39.9 billion baht, a decrease of 15.2% from the corresponding period last year but higher than the target by 2.7%.
Regarding the revenue contribution of state-owned enterprises in the first four months of this fiscal year, the income delivered to the Finance Ministry totalled 70.8 billion baht, which was 2% lower than the same period last year but exceeded the target by 12.8%.
Additionally, the Finance Ministry reported that as of the end of January, the government's treasury stands at 172 billion baht, 165 billion baht lower than the corresponding period last year, representing a decrease of 48.9%.