LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — The provincial government has collected nearly P3 billion in revenues, more than half of its target this year, the Provincial Treasurer's Office (PTO) reported on Friday.
In its Report of Revenue and Receipt as of May 17, the PTO said it has already collected P2.9 billion, which is 50.83 percent of the P5.73 billion target income this year.
From local taxes, the provincial government has collected P299.1 million or 94 percent of its estimated income this year amounting to P317.35 million.
Local taxes include professional, amusement, franchise, real property transfer, real property tax, sand gravel and other quarry products, delivery trucks and vans, fines and penalties, and fines and penalties on goods and services.
The biggest collections came from real property taxes, which posted P137.45 million or 101.82 percent, surpassing by P2.45 million its target collection of P135 million.
The tax on sand, gravel and other quarry products also highlighted this year's tax collections by generating P109.28 million or 91 percent of its target of P120 million.
The amount is 463.01 percent higher than the P19.41 million collected taxes on sand and gravel from January to May 17 last year.
The provincial government expects to exceed its collection target of P120 million from quarry operations this year because of the use of an app that helps enforcers in the regulation, inspection, supervision, monitoring and recording of the progress of quarrying activities.
From service and business income, the provincial government has collected a total of P282.12 million or 68 percent of the target collection amounting to P417.27 million.
Service income includes permit fees, clearances and certification fees, and inspection fees, while hospital fees, waterworks system fees, rent income, income from hotels and dormitories and interest income are under business income.
The province runs a hotel, rents out some of its real estate properties, and operates 14 hospitals in different parts of the province.
In his state of the province address this year, Gov. Ramon Guico 3rd said income generation for the provincial government in 2023 "is one of our undeniable marks of excellence."
He said that in 2023, the province's total tax revenue of P5.25 billion exceeded the 5.04 billion estimated income for a 103 percent collection performance.
In 2022, Pangasinan collected some P6.44 billion in revenue, making it the country's 7th richest province that year, according to the Commission on Audit's 2022 Annual Audit Report.
A month ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that Pangasinan was also 7th among 82 provinces in the country in terms of the value of its contribution to national gross domestic product in 2022.
This was attributed to the number of enterprises in the province producing products and services.