Customs revenue 12.5% above target

The Customs Department has collected Bt82.3 billion in revenue in the first 10 months of the 2008 fiscal year, 12.5 per cent above target.

The department's original target was Bt73.15 billion.

Deputy Finance Minister Pradit Pataraprasit said that in July alone, the revenue was Bt8.99 billion, Bt1.5 billion or 20.83 per cent higher than target. The amount was Bt1.8 billion or 25.39 per cent higher than the same period last year.

So far, the department has seized illegal products worth Bt4.2 billion.

Source: The Nation - 06 August 2008

Pardon my ignorance, but how can customs have a "target"? Surely their "revenue" is from tax collected on imports which can vary wildly.

Pardon my ignorance, but how can customs have a "target"? Surely their "revenue" is from tax collected on imports which can vary wildly.

maybe they are targeted to what the annual average should be?, thus to stop to much milking of the money to the men in charge

The headline could also read;

Record amount of stuff imported legally.

or

New ways to levy import duty found.

or

Guess how much we did not declare.

For goodness sake - this ain't rocket science.

All (sensible) governments budget for a certain amount of income from their main revenue raising departments - be it Customs, Tax, VAT etc etc.

I would guess that mostly it just reflects inflation.