The Philippine government's revenue collections from a broader sales tax in the first six months were 23 percent above target at 38.22 billion pesos ($742.1 million), official documents showed. The government had set a revenue aim of 31.03 billion from the tax reform for the January-to-June period.
The fiscal reform, introduced late last year, applied the sales tax to previously exempt sectors such as power, oil and fees for doctors, lawyers and other professionals. The rate of the tax was raised to 12 percent from 10 percent in February. The Philippine government, Asia's largest issuer of sovereign bonds after Japan, is banking on extra revenues of about 75 billion pesos this year from the broader VAT. Sales tax collections by the Bureau of Internal Revenue reached 12.4 billion pesos in the first six months, or double the government target of 6.03 billion in the same period.
The Bureau of Customs collected 25.7 billion pesos in the first six months, slightly above the target of 25 billion for the period.