THE Customs Services Division’s tax collections have gone down by 22 percent or $3.4 million during the first three months of 2002 compared to the same period in 2001.
From over $15.52 million total collections during the first three months of last year, the figure dropped to $12.072 million between January and March this year.
The first quarter collections also posted an 8 percent decline compared to the previous quarter’s level of $13.122 million.
Capt. Juan Cepeda, acting director of customs, yesterday said the decline in the latest quarterly collections was attributed to the general economic slowdown.
“Both the user’s fee and excise tax collections went down, so there’s an overall drop,” he said.
Cepeda, however, expressed hope that the collection figures would improve in the next quarter.
During the first three months of 2002, the biggest monthly decline was recorded in March—a 25 percent drop, or from $5.055 million to only $3.959 million.
Cepeda said user’s fee collections decreased by 20 percent, or $1.7 million between January and March compared to the same months last year.
The user’s fee collections totaled $6.907 million. Last year it was $8.639 million.
User’s fee is paid by businesses on locally manufactured and finished products, mainly garments, that will be shipped out of the CNMI.
Cepeda said the excise tax collections dropped by 25 percent or $1.716 million during the first three months of the year.
Customs collected $5.164 million in excise taxes between January and March this year, compared to $6.881 million in the first three months of 2001.
Excise taxes are imposed on imported commodities entering the CNMI—cigarettes, tobacco, beer and malt beverages, construction materials, agricultural goods, leather goods, jewelry and cosmetics.
The figure on excise taxes also includes collections from other fees or charges imposed by Customs.
