MANILA -- Some lawmakers at the House of Representatives welcomed the Duterte administration's plan to temporarily suspend the scheduled oil excise tax hike next year.
This, after Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go announced over the weekend that suspending excise tax on fuel is an option being considered by the government to tame inflation.
In a statement on Monday, ACT Teachers Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro said while the planned fuel excise tax suspension is a welcome development, the removal of the excise tax provisions under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law should be "one of the immediate concrete solutions" to the soaring prices.
The lawmakers also called for the immediate passage of House Bill 7653, which seeks to reverse the "regressive taxation" of the TRAIN law by repealing certain sections.
"Since the implementation of the TRAIN law in January 2018, fuel prices have already increased by as much as PHP10.50 per liter for gasoline, PHP12 for diesel, and PHP14.12 for kerosene," Tinio said. "Filipinos are in need of immediate and concrete solutions that would solve the never-ending price hikes.”
Castro, meanwhile, said a more decisive solution is the removal of the excise tax provision in the TRAIN law rather than mere suspension of its implementation.
"The suspension of the second tranche of the additional excise tax on fuel for 2019 will not relieve the Filipino people from the already high prices of fuel, it will only delay the implementation of the additional excise tax. An immediate and more decisive solution should be the removal of the excise tax provision in the TRAIN law," Castro said.
Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo echoed the two lawmakers' call to repeal the imposition of excise tax on kerosene and diesel.
He urged his colleagues to pass House Bill 8161 which seeks to reverse the "ill-timed fuel taxes" imposed by the TRAIN law.
"If the announcement (on fuel excise tax suspension) proves true, it will be a welcome development and is an indication of the increasing recognition from Malacañang of the negative impact that increased fuel excise taxes have had on the Filipino people, but we in the People's Minority must stress that more has to be done," Quimbo said.
"While a suspension of the scheduled increases in 2019 will at the very least help to stem the tide and prevent the situation from getting any worse, it does nothing to relieve those who are now suffering from the relentless increase in prices," he added.
Quimbo raised the alarm on the "worrying impact" of unabated inflation on poverty, particularly noting that food inflation is now close to 10 percent and has likely dragged more than two million Filipinos to poverty.
He said this is corroborated by the recently reported rise to 52 percent of self-rated poverty, 8 percent of which are classified as "new poor".
"Once again we make this earnest and urgent from across party lines and beyond our political divisions. The suffering of our fellow Filipinos demands nothing less than a committed and united response," Quimbo said.
The continuous rise of oil prices in the international market is among the primary reason for the sustained rise of domestic inflation, which as of September this year averaged at 5 percent, higher than the upper end of the government’s 2 to 4 percent target band for 2018-2020.
Under the TRAIN law, which took effect at the start of this year, excise tax on diesel will be PHP2.50 per liter in 2018 and will increase to PHP4.50 per liter in 2019 and PHP6 per liter in 2020.
Excise tax on gasoline was increased to PHP7 per liter this year from PHP4.35 per liter previously. For 2019 and 2020, the rates will be at PHP9 per liter and PHP10 per liter, respectively. (PNA)
