Non-tax revenues seen hitting a record P606.6B

NON-TAX revenues will exceed expectations this year and hit a record P606.6 billion, a Cabinet official said during the weekend.

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, in a statement, said the estimated non-tax revenue tally would exceed 2024’s P407.5-billion target and the 2023 result of P394.8 billion.

“We need to raise more funds to meet the growing needs of our people,” he said.

“On top of tax collections, the non-tax revenue sources help us marshall additional resources to equip the government in delivering more and better services in critical areas like health care, education, food security, social protection, and national security,” Recto added.

The Finance chief has said that non-tax revenues will help the government achieve its overall 2024 collection goal of P4.27 trillion. As of end-November 2024, non-tax collections had reached P555.30 billion.

The Bureau of the Treasury last week reported that tax revenues were up 11.51 percent to P3.55 billion as of end-October. Non-tax collections, meanwhile, surged 45.6 percent from a year earlier.

Recto said the government had boosted non-tax revenues by increasing the remittance rate of government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) to 75 percent from 50 percent, selling more assets and collecting unused GOCC funds as required by Congress.

As of Dec. 9, 2024, 52 GOCCs had remitted P136.29 billion in dividends to the Bureau of the Treasury, surpassing the P100-billion target and 35 percent higher compared to last year.

Another P4.44 billion was collected from asset sales and other efforts by the Privatization Management Office. The sales included government shares in NLEX Corp. worth about P2.9 billion.

The government also received P30 billion upfront from the SMC-SAP & Company Consortium for the rehabilitation of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) complex.

The government expects to generate P900 billion in revenues over the 15-year NAIA concession (extendable by 10 years), Recto added.

As for excess and unused GOCC funds, the Finance chief said that a total of P167.23 billion from Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. had been remitted to the Treasury.