The government's revenue collection outpaced its target by 4% during the eight months to May, mainly because of higher than expected remittance from state enterprises and revenue collection from other state agencies.
The government gathered 1.57 trillion baht from October to May, exceeding the target by 60 billion and rising 4.7% from a year earlier, said Pornchai Thiraveja, financial policy adviser for the Fiscal Policy Office and deputy spokesperson for Finance Ministry.
Revenue collection from other agencies and remittances from state-owned enterprises between October last year and May surpassed the targets by 28.9 billion baht and 25.6 billion, or by 25.7% and 25.6%, respectively.
Moreover, collection of the petroleum tax, automobile tax, and tobacco tax were significantly above targets, he said.
"The government's revenue collection remains higher than targeted and in line with our expectation. Moreover, a significant increase in the imports of goods and services, especially imports of raw materials and intermediate goods, also bodes well for economic growth and the government's revenue collection for the rest of fiscal year 2018," said Mr Pornchai.
Tax collection from the three tax-collecting agencies, however, fell short of their targets, said the ministry.
The Revenue Department amassed 1.13 trillion baht for the eight months through May, missing its target by 10.8 billion or 0.9%, but rising 4.3% over the same period a year ago.
The revenue shortfall was attributed to 18 billion baht less than expected in value-added tax collection, though the petroleum tax tallied 10.8 billion, or 26.6% above the target because of retroactive tax payments and higher earnings from petroleum explorers.
The Excise Department collected 372 billion baht, 1.4% or 5.27 billion below the target and 1.29 billion or 0.2% lower than a year earlier.
Even though tobacco and auto tax revenue exceeded the target by 8.3% and 10.1%, respectively, it failed to offset lower than targeted fuel, beer and alcohol tax revenue.
The Customs Department gathered 72.9 billion baht in tax revenue for the eight months to May, below the target by 1.43 billion or 1.9%, but 6.5% higher than a year earlier, said the Finance Ministry.
Increasing imports of products that receive tax privileges were blamed for the department's failure to achieve its target.
