THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) saw economic recovery in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) as 2021’s tax revenue exceeded the yearly target, along with growth in the gross regional domestic product (GRDP).
Initially targeting P5.5 billion worth of tax revenue, the BIR collected P5.9 billion instead in 2021, according to BIR Cordillera Regional Director Douglas Rufino.
Around 70 percent of the collections were from Baguio, where the BIR collected P2.935 billion in taxes in excess of the P2.85 billion target for the city according to Rufino.
Lawyer Wilfredo Reyes, BIR Baguio revenue officer, said that collections in Baguio from January to April this year have also been high due to the surge in tourists coming to the city.
Of the P7.1 billion target for 2022, the BIR has hit P2.39 billion worth of taxes in the first four months of the year.
Meanwhile, the CAR GRDP increase of 7.5 percent is a bounce back from the negative 10.2 percent in 2020, representing an overall decrease in goods and services value in the region.
With the GRDP having increased, average family expenditures in the region rose from P118,215 to P126,608, representing an overall increase in cash flow in the province.
Employment in the region is also increasing, after the 14 percent unemployment rate at the height of the 2020 pandemic period dropped to 5.43 percent in 2021.
However, the agricultural sector, unlike most of the other sectors, saw a production contraction of 1.7 percent, as the only sector that saw negative growth last year.
