Trillanes rejects House version of sin tax bill

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Antonio Trillanes IV rejected the House version of sin tax bill saying it discriminates lower-tier products and favored imported brands.

In an issued statement Monday, Trillanes, member of the Senate committee on ways and means, explained that the proposed increase should “not kill the source of livelihood of our tobacco farmers.” 

“We have to ensure that the system to be implemented should be equitable and the rate should not be too high that it could cause the market to collapse and encourage smuggling of tobacco products,” he added.

Under the House version of the sin tax bill, imposition of tax will be based on a single classification system which is unitary and the tax rate will be uniform, regardless of the quality of the products.

“This system is discriminatory against the lower-tier products and would favor the imported brands,” Trillanes said.

Instead, the senator supported the proposed legislation of Sen. Ralph Recto that will increase the excise tax imposed on liquor and tobacco products as long as the rates are reasonable.

“I am supporting the sin tax bill as a revenue measure since the rates will be indexed on the country’s inflation rate, provided, however, that the rates of increase should be reasonable,” Trillanes said.

He said the proposal to increase the sin taxes should be within the parameters of realistic revenue targets and based on the current classification system of liquor and tobacco products.

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