BANGKOK, 17 July 2015 – The Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) has indicated that revenue collection for the first nine months of the 2015 fiscal year is short of target by about 65.5 billion baht, owing to the ailing economy.
Director of the FPO Kritsada Jinavijarana reported that the government was able to collect 1.63 trillion baht in revenue between October 2014 and June 2015. However, the figure was below its target by 65.5 billion baht or 3.9 percent due mainly to the economic slowdown, which led to disappointing collections of corporate income tax, value-added tax (VAT), petroleum income tax and car excise tax.
Mr Kritsada noted that, although VAT collection failed to meet its target, it posted 7 percent growth compared to the same period of the previous year. He considered the improvement as a sign that consumption and investment in Thailand are still healthy.
Moreover, the collection of fuel tax exceeded its nine-month target by 43 billion baht while many state enterprises and other state-run agencies were also reported to have outperformed their targets.
