GARMENT user fee, excise tax and all other collections by the Customs Services Division have gone down by 8 percent or $359,419 in a one-month period.
Customs Director Joe Mafnas yesterday said the total collections for April stood at $4.12 million. The figure from the same month last year was $4.48 million.
Economic uncertainties not only in the CNMI but in other countries are blamed for the continuous decline in Customs collections.
“The collections are still going down. I guess we haven’t reached the bottom yet,” Mafnas said.
Collections from user fee stood at $2.185 million in April, a decline from April 2001’s level of $2.307 million.
User fee is paid by businesses on locally manufactured and finished products, mainly garments, shipped out of the CNMI.
Customs’ collections from excise taxes also went down, from $2.173 million in April 2001 to $1.936 million in April 2002.
Mafnas said excise tax figures include collections from sanctions.
Excise taxes are imposed on imported commodities entering the CNMI, including cigarettes, tobacco, beer and malt beverages, construction materials, agricultural goods, leather goods, jewelry and cosmetics.
Since Oct. 1, 2001, Customs has collected $29 million, a 19 percent drop from the previous figure of $36 million.
