The tax take of the Philippines' main revenue agency fell short of target in the first two months of the year due to the slowdown in the domestic economy.

At the sidelines of a forum organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Sixto Esquivias IV told reporters his agency missed its collection target by P2 billion in January to February.

The BIR was supposed to collect P100.56 billion in the first two months but preliminary figures showed it only managed to collect P98.56 billion.

The amount was also lower by 8.4 percent or P9 billion over the P107.58 billion that BIR generated in January and February of 2008.

Esquivias, who assumed office as BIR chief last November, pointed out that the adverse external developments would continue to affect the BIR's collections for the rest of the year.

To address the issue, he pointed out that the agency decided to instill the "fear factor" among taxpayers in the country through the nationwide "Oplan Kandado" program wherein the BIR would padlock business establishments found remiss in the payment of proper taxes.

According to him, the agency would also continue to monitor its Electronic Filing and Payment System to identify corporations and individuals that do not pay the right taxes.

The BIR missed its original collection goal of P845 billion last year by a record P67 billion after collecting only P778.2 billion. The amount was P31.43 billion short of the revised collection assumption of P810 billion.

This year, the agency is tasked to collect only P865.5 billion or almost P100 billion lower than the original target of P965 billion. The previous target was slashed twice by economic managers to take into consideration the impact of the global economic meltdown.

With the lower tax take, the Philippines' budget deficit could widen to as much as P257 billion this year, economic planning chief Ralph Recto announced on Tuesday.

The government last month raised its 2009 fiscal gap target to P177.2 billion, or 2.2 percent of gross domestic product, from P102 billion previously to allow for higher state spending to boost the local economy amid the global downturn.