BIR Central, Eastern P’sinan Order to Collect P8.3-B

By Mortz C. Ortigoza 

URDANETA CITY, Pangasinan - With a positive collection performance last year, the two offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in central and eastern Pangasinan will have a projected collection goal of P8,270,419,161 if the 15 percent additional target is added on its last year collection.

This was what Region-1 Director Josephine S. Virtucio told the six Revenue District Office chiefs in the region.

Camba (left, photo) and Serafica.

As tax goal this year, Revenue District Office No. 4 Chief Aldrin Camba told Northern Watch Newspaper that after he collected P4, 938, 419, 711.56  from January 3 to December 29, 2022, the more or less 15% increase will be P5, 679, 182,668.

RDO No. 6 Chief Eden R. Serafica collected last year P2,253, 249, 125.13 on top of the tax goal of P2,174, 926, 000. It means she will collect P2, 591, 236, 493 as based on the 15% tax add-on.

“15% so far sa ngayon. 15% ang sinasabi ni Regional Director namin. Pero wala pa kasi hindi sila naglabas ng allocation (inaudible),” Camba said.

Serafica oversees one city and fifteen municipalities in eastern Pangasinan while Camba supervises two cities and fourteen towns in central Pangasinan.

Earlier, BIR Commissioner Romeo D. Lumagui, Jr. told the RDO chiefs of the country in a convention in Manila that the tax target for each of them this year would be more or less 12 percent.

When asked about the lower cap on the goal instead of the customary 18 percent being imposed every year, Camba cited the consideration of the country’s gross domestic product, inflation, and other.

“Maraming ni consider. Saka iyong spending ng government iyong mga expenditures kasi iyang mga goal natin based sa program ng expenditures ng government,” he explained.

He agreed with the observation of this writer that the 12 percent and 15 percent additional increase ensued because government had a big saving because the national tax allotment (NTA) (the successor of the internal revenue allotment) was significantly reduced as allocation to each of the local government units (LGUs).

These LGUs are the barangays, towns, cities, and provinces of the country.

As Local Government Code mandates, the allotment of the LGUs from the taxes collected by the BIR and other government agencies are based in the last three years. For example, the NTA this year is based on the collection in year 2020 – a year where the country was reeling with the economic crunches because of the scourge of the Corona Virus Disease-19.”

“Collection namin certain percentages binibigay sa mga LGUs,” Camba cited.

Because of the rule that governed the NTA, the LGU of the province of Pangasinan saw its allotment reduced significantly by P700, 000, 000 this year.