Finance Secretary Ralph Recto underscored to the members of the Senate that the Department of Finance (DOF)’s 2025 budget proposal prioritizes digitalization for efficient tax administration and public service.
“[O]ur proposed budget every year is always a faithful reflection of our strategic priorities under the Bagong Pilipinas brand of governance,” he said in his presentation at the Senate budget hearing on Aug. 27, 2024.
“The items discussed today are part and parcel of a larger effort to improve tax administration efficiency, deliver more responsive public service delivery, and provide economic prosperity for the Filipino people,” Recto said.
The DOF allocated over half of its 2025 budget to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which is responsible for collecting P3.3 trillion in tax revenues.
Recto said the BIR would receive the largest share of the budget, totaling P17.68 billion or 54.4 percent of the P33.75 billion proposed budget for the DOF.
The DOF’s proposed budget for 2025 is 20.8 percent higher than the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA) level but represents only 0.5 percent of the government’s total proposed 2025 national budget, he said.
The Bureau of Customs has a proposed budget of P5.66 billion (17.4 percent share), a meager amount compared to its target collection of P1.06 trillion next year.
The Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) has a budget allocation of P6.46 billion (19.9 percent share) compared to its heavy responsibility of bridging the P1.54 trillion deficit in 2025.
The Insurance Commission will get P1 billion; DOF-Office of the Secretary, P491.25 million; Bureau of Local Government Finance, P433.66 million; National Tax Research Center (NTRC), P144.11 million; Privatization and Management Office (PMO), P111.06 million; and Central Board of Assessment Appeals (CBAA), P18.05 million.
Meanwhile, a P1 billion-allocation under the Special Purpose Funds was included for the replenishment of the People’s Survival Fund (PSF) which will support numerous climate adaptation projects of local communities.
Guided by the Medium-Term Fiscal Program, the DOF ensures that the government attains its revenue targets annually to reduce deficit and debt gradually in a realistic manner, while creating more jobs, increasing people’s incomes and decreasing poverty in the process, he said.
Recto said that in 2025, the agency is tasked to fund the proposed P6.35-trillion national budget, of which only P4.64 trillion are supported by revenues.
“Thus, for next year, our expenditures amount to P17.40 billion a day, of which P12.72 billion per day will be financed by revenue collections and the rest, P4.68 billion by loans. Every 24 hours,” he said.
“That’s how heavy the DOF’s task is, every 24 hours, with our miniscule proposed budget of only P33.75 billion for next year,” he said.
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