Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said on Friday that he would focus on increasing tax collection in the country while maintaining current spending as his first order following his appointment as new chief of the Department of Finance.

In a press conference in Malacañang, Recto said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had asked him to step up the fight against people who have made tax evasion a business now that he’s the Finance secretary.

He said that his first priority will be to raise the P4.3 trillion in taxes for the year with the help of the Bureau of Treasury and the two main government tax agencies: Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Customs.

Daily haul

To achieve that, Recto said he is targeting a daily haul of approximately P20 billion to cover the Marcos administration’s spending requirements for this year.

“Every day, when I wake up in the morning, we must have collected more or less P20 billion to fund all our people’s needs and the government’s requirements,” Recto said.

“The idea is to stretch every peso, including acting faster on investments,” Recto added.

He also intends to push for President Marcos’ revenue-generating bills that are currently pending in Congress to close the growing fiscal deficit, which stands at 5.1 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.

The government’s primary tax collection agency, BIR has been assigned to raise P3.05 trillion in 2024, while the Bureau of Customs is projected to bring in P1 trillion.

Furthermore, the government expects the Bureau of Treasury to generate P300 billion in revenue this year.

The national government’s budget deficit, which is expected to reach P1.363 trillion by the end of December, would be reduced with the support of the P4.3-trillion collection objective.

Recto added that the Philippine government would have borrowed P2.7 trillion by next year.

Hard-earned taxes used prudently

He also emphasized that the government must make sure that hard-earned taxes are used prudently.

“It’s all about fiscal sustainability,” Recto said.

Meanwhile, Marcos said Recto has the authority to decide if tax reforms are required.

“I know he’s fully (aware) of different issues that are prevalent in the Department of Finance so let us allow him to make analysis and we leave it to him to make those announcements when the time comes,’’ Recto said.