MISSING CONTEXT: Non-tax revenue constitutes 6% of the PH’s total income

At a glance

• Claim: Non-tax revenue constitutes 6% of the country’s total income.
• Rating: MISSING CONTEXT
• The facts: Senator and presidential aspirant Manny Pacquiao did not specify which year he was referring to, but data from the Bureau of Treasury showed non-tax revenues contributed 9.28% or P257 billion to the Philippines’ total revenues from January to November in 2021. 
• Why we fact-checked this: Pacquiao made the claim during the KBP presidential forum on February 4.

Complete details

During the Panata sa Bayan: The KBP Presidential Candidates Forum  on Friday, February 4, Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao, a presidential aspirant, claimed that the non-tax revenue of the Philippines constitutes 6% of the country’s total income. 

In his answer to the question given by Roby Alampay on where he would get the funds for his programs, Pacquiao said that the government did not solely rely on taxes for revenue.

“Mayroon pong tinatawag natin na non-tax revenue income. Dapat ’yung non-tax revenue income palakasin natin para hindi lamang sa tax revenue income magre-rely ang ating bansa. Kaya lang po, ang nangyayari ay…dito sa ating gobyerno ay nasa mga 6% lamang po annually ang naiaambag na source of income ng non-tax revenue,” Pacquiao said at the 1:01:54 mark of the forum.

(We have what we call the non-tax revenue income. Non-tax revenue income must be strengthened so that our country will not solely rely on tax revenue income. But what is happening is that non-tax revenue contributes only 6% to our income [annually].)

Pacquiao also said the government should rely more on non-tax revenue income to slow down tax hikes. 

The claim that non-tax income makes up 6% of the country’s total income is missing context. 

According to the website of the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Development, non-tax revenue income consists of fees collected from services provided by government agencies to the public and from the government’s regulatory and investment activities. 

Data from the Bureau of Treasury showed non-tax revenues contributed 9.28% or P257 billion to the Philippines’ total revenues from January to November in 2021. 

On average, the share of non-tax collections is at around 9.6% during the Duterte administration, save for 2020 when it was at its highest at 12.3%. Data from the past decade, meanwhile, pegged the average at 10.7%.

While Pacquiao was off by a few percentage points, the projected non-tax collections for 2021 were actually at P175.4 billion or 6.45% of the target total revenue. Based on actual collections, however, the Philippine government earned more than the target.

According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the non-tax revenue-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio of the Philippines from 2014 until 2019 did not reach 2%.

CPBRD data shows the government earned P210.2 billion in non-tax revenue income from January to September 2021, constituting 1.08% of the country’s total GDP.

The non-tax revenue-to-GDP ratio shows how big the contribution of non-tax revenue income is to the total income of the country. 

A report from the CPBRD showed that the Philippines has the lowest non-tax revenue-to-GDP ratio among Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states from 2014 to 2016. – Aika Rey and Lorenz Dantes Pasion/Rappler.com

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