Finance Ministry unfazed by Excise Department missing revenue target
Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat on Wednesday played down the Excise Department missing its revenue target during the first seven months of fiscal 2024, while the top Finance bureaucrat attributed it to diesel subsidy and EV sales promotion measures.
Julapun said missing the target would not affect the work of the government.
“The revenue collections of other agencies have exceeded their targets, so that would offset missing one target,” Julapun said.
He said it was understandable that the Excise Department had missed its revenue target during the first seven months of fiscal 2024 and possibly throughout the year, as the government had used the department as a tool to help consumers by cutting excise tax on oil and to promote the development of the electric vehicle industry.
On Monday, Fiscal Policy Office director-general Pornchai Thiraveja said the government’s revenue in the first seven months of fiscal 2024 had missed the target by 39.1 billion baht, or by 2.7%, mainly because of the shortfall in the Excise Department’s collections.
He said the Excise Department’s revenue collection totalled 304.506 billion baht, 47.089 billion baht below the target.
On Wednesday, Finance Ministry permanent secretary Lawan Saengsanit explained that the Excise Department had missed the revenue target mainly because of the government’s measures to reduce the prices of diesel and petrol during the early months of the year.
He said the department had lost about 24 billion baht in revenue due to the excise cuts on diesel and petrol.
He said the government’s measures to support the EV industry also had affected the Excise Department’s revenue, as it was allowed to collect excise on sold EVs at only 2% compared to 25-35% on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.
Moreover, the decline in ICE vehicle sales in the country also reduced the collections of the Excise Department, he added.
