Revenue reforms and Asian credit ratings

The spending side of the Philippines' public finance needs major reforms that include spending cuts in many agencies like the corruption-tainted Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

- BIENVENIDO S. OPLAS, JR.

Instead, we can increase infrastructure projects via Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).

The revenue side too needs additional reforms, especially when it comes to excise tax because the declining trend continues with more privatization of government assets, and with rising dividends given by government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collections continue their natural annual increase even without any major tax hikes; it is the Bureau of Customs that needs dynamism (see Table 1).

"A closer look at some indicators will belie Secretary [Ralph] Recto's statements. The seemingly satisfactory revenue effort is deceiving. Note that 'better-than-expected' nontax revenue collections primarily drove higher total revenue collections. These nontax revenues included public-private partnership concession fees amounting to P30 billion, and notably, P167.2-billion transfer of funds from two government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PHIC) and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC)."

That paragraph is from "Binding constraints: Corruption and limited fiscal space" by Pia Rodrigo and Filomeno S. Sta. Ana III, a story in