THE Commonwealth government’s revenue collection in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 exceeded the finance department’s forecast by 4.5%, Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig said.
In a report to Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Atalig said his department forecast $33,835,531, but the actual revenue collections in the fiscal year’s first quarter, or October to December 2021, was $35,343,868.
He attributed this to the increase in wage and salary tax collections which stood at $6,190,451 or approximately 2.7% greater than the forecast. Likewise, the corporate income tax collection was valued at $1,384,072 which is approximately 163% greater than the forecast amount of $526,192.
Also, the business gross revenue tax or BGRT collection exceeded the forecast. The BGRT collection for the first quarter of FY2022 is $15,452,207 which is approximately 16.8% more than the forecast. Only the excise tax collection did not reach the projection. Atalig said the collection amounted to $6,873,026 or 19.9% less than the forecast.
The islands’ tourism-based economy remains at a standstill, but like the states and the other territories, the CNMI has been the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Covid-19 relief funds and other assistance.
As for the CNMI government, its expenditures in the first quarter exceeded the fiscal year budget appropriated in Public Law 22-08, by 11.8%. The Finance report indicates that disaster response and law enforcement expenditures were more than what was appropriated.
Atalig said “the most prominent deficiency” is disaster expenditures that were not appropriated funding despite accumulating an expense of $8,207,649. The expenditure was in response to the CNMI’s continued effort to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Atalig also said that the Department of Public Safety was appropriated $1,234,719 but the department’s actual expenditure was $2,045,625.
The Department of Correction, he added, was appropriated $698,362 but it spent $1,134,275 in the first quarter; and the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services was allotted $944,065, but spent $1,099,250.
The Division of Customs and Biosecurity was appropriated $482,436 but its actual expenditures amounted to $700,858.
These expenditures, Atalig reiterated, were attributed to the law enforcement efforts in responding to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
David DLG Atalig
