WILLEMSTAD - The Tax Department has reported, through its monthly overview, that both tax and premium revenues for the month of August exceeded the budgeted amounts. The tax revenue reached 5.2 million florins (NAf), surpassing the budgeted amount of 95.1 million florins with a total of 99.3 million florins, primarily due to higher revenues from Property Tax (OZB) (+4.6 million florins) and Sales Tax (+4.3 million florins). Other taxes, such as Income Tax (-/- 2.7 million florins) and Wage Tax (-/- 1.5 million florins), were slightly lower than budgeted. 

In the case of social premiums, the revenue was 7.2 million florins higher than budgeted (68.9 million compared to 61.7 million florins). Basic insurance premiums (+2.8 million florins) and AOV/AWW pensions (+3.1 million florins) were the main contributors to this positive result. 

With the implementation of changes in the Tax Department's collection management (focus on collecting outstanding assessments) at the beginning of this year, there has been a noticeable improvement in the results. Up to August, there was an additional 80.9 million florins in tax and social premium revenues compared to the budgeted amount. This surplus was created entirely after the introduction of the change in management. 

In July, revenues were slightly higher than budgeted, mainly due to refunds of income tax and social premiums paid in July. However, in August, the budget surplus trend was restored. In August, Customs reported higher turnover for Value Added Tax (OB) due to imports for this year, with 13.6 million florins, and SBAB also contributed to this higher OB revenue with its campaign, "Your Invoice...Request It!...Pay It!" 

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the leasehold revenue in August, for the second consecutive month, exceeded the budgeted amount (2.0 million versus 1.9 million florins). This higher revenue is the result of efforts by the Domain Management to eliminate the backlog of leasehold billing and the collection of outstanding leasehold amounts in collaboration with the Tax Department.