On behalf of the Swedish government, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency has granted US$2 million to the Philippines’s government to boost tax collection on May 30, 2007.
“This grant will help the Bureau of Internal Revenue strengthen its capacity in combating tax evasion through better information management and improved auditing system,” Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said in a speech at a signing ceremony for the grant.
The grant will finance the bureau’s projects to improve areas such as risk management, tax audit, the large-payers database and industry profiling and benchmarking.
The bureau collects two-thirds of the government’s tax revenues and still cannot meet its tax collection target although certain taxes have been increased.
The ability to the bureau to meet its targets is considered by credit rating agencies as key to the sustainability of the country’s fiscal consolidation.
