Incremental value-added taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs jumped a little over 30 percent due to rise oil prices in the world market in the first half of last year.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales reported that incremental revenues arising from the implementation of the Expanded Value Added Tax Act of 2005 reached P74.7 billion last year, or P17.5 billion higher than the P57.2 billion collected in 2007.

Morales said the agency exceeded the target of P64.6 billion by over P9.1 billion.

He said Customs managed to collect P60.98 billion from the lifting of the exemption of crude, oil products, and coal from VAT and another P15.8 billion from the increase in the VAT rate to 12 percent from 10 percent.

Oil prices in the world market surged to a record high of $147 per barrel in July last year. They have since dropped to below $40 per barrel.

Morales earlier reported that the agency?s collections surged 24.5 percent to P260.7 billion last year from P209.4 billion in 2007, exceeding the full-year target of P254.5 billion by P6.2 billion.

The feat, according to Morales, could be attributed to the weak peso against the US dollar and more non-cash collections due to higher rice importations by the state-run National Food Authority. Lawrence Agcaoili