Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Ralph G. Recto asserted that raising revenues to finance the national budget has become more difficult in a climate where tax collection is viewed as unacceptable.

This was among Recto’s points when he urged the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the country’s largest tax-collection agency, to “stand firm in their duty of raising revenues to fund the needs of the country.”

During the BIR’s 121st anniversary on Friday, Aug. 1, Recto stressed that government programs and projects rely on taxpayer money, with most revenues coming from the BIR and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

As such, the Finance chief pushes for “strict adherence to fiscal discipline, ensuring that spending plans are aligned with revenue capacity to avoid over-appropriation.”

Recto reminded the public that government services that seem “free” today will still be paid for later using taxpayer money, such that the responsibility ultimately falls on the people. He noted that it is not the ones who made popular promises who face the pressure when it is time to collect, and the bills start piling.

It is “the so-called villains in the revenue-raising sector,” Recto said, adding that “we all know that raising money to fund the budget is becoming more difficult in a political culture that sees spending taxes as a virtue, but collecting them as a sin—one that treats tax evasion as a sport, but tax imposition as a crime.”

While people are “naturally born resistant to taxes,” Recto said they can be encouraged to comply if they see their taxes being used properly—for the right purposes, at fair prices, by the appropriate agencies, and when needed.

“As it stands, the BIR should not be collateral damage of the problems on the expenditure side,” he said.

In a separate statement, the BOC, the country’s second-largest tax collection agency, said it posted an 8.1-percent year-on-year increase in its collections to ₱86.9 billion in July from ₱80.4 billion in the same month last year.

According to the BOC, July’s figure exceeded the month's ₱84.4-billion target, marking the highest monthly collection for the tax agency so far this year. Notably, last month’s collections emerged as the highest monthly take since October last year, when ₱86.9 billion was collected.

This was driven by the combined efforts of all 17 collection districts, along with revenues from specific sources such as unpaid post-entry modifications, government imports under the tax expenditure fund (TEF) amounting to ₱3.1billion, and the Post-Clearance Audit Group’s collections worth ₱136.9 million.

“The BOC achieved this milestone despite a four-and-a-half-day suspension of operations due to severe weather conditions that disrupted port activities and customs processing nationwide,” the agency said.

Year-to-date, the BOC collected a total of ₱544.2 billion in revenues, as per the agency’s statement on Friday, Aug. 1.

Meanwhile, the BIR has yet to report its revenues for July, but for the first half, its collections expanded by 14.1 percent to ₱1.55 trillion from ₱1.36 trillion in the same period a year earlier.

On a daily basis, the BIR needs to collect ₱8.6 billion in order to support the spending of ₱17.4 billion per day, the DOF said.

Recto earlier said that the BOC would likely “miss its [2025 collection] target by around ₱100 billion,” attributing the shortfall to the impact of rice tariffication, growing importation of hybrid electric vehicles (EVs), and delayed implementation of new excise tax measures.

Recto, meanwhile, is optimistic that the BIR will once again exceed its full-year ₱3.2-trillion revenue target, as it did in 2024.