Several senators welcomed the move of the House of Representatives to look at various proposals to scrap or suspend the scheduled hikes in the excise tax on fuel and petroleum products under Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.
The House Committee on Ways and Means created a technical working group to review the proposals with the hope of striking a “workable balance between the revenue interest of the government and the financial well-being of the country.”
Senator Koko Pimentel III welcomed a review of the scheduled fuel excise tax increases.
“We should also entertain the same idea, to scrap excise tax on fuel,” Pimentel said.
“Let this be a lesson to all of us: it is very difficult to impose an excise tax on an item whose price is unstable and very volatile, and completely beyond our control and even our influence whatsoever,” the legislator stressed.
“The move is good news that the House is starting to tackle measures to correct the TRAIN law and do away with the excise tax on fuel which pushes prices up.”
For Senator Bam Aquino, the move is “good news that the House is starting to tackle measures to correct the TRAIN law and do away with the excise tax on fuel which pushes prices up.”
The lawmaker said he already filed a joint resolution in the Senate seeking to repeal the excise tax on fuel.
“Hopefully, the Senate can follow suit and tackle these crucial measures before the end of the year,” Aquino said.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, meanwhile, said the joint resolution filed by Aquino that was signed by opposition senators is now pending before the Ways and Means Committee.
“We do not have the numbers to have it passed. It is up to the majority now to act on it,” Pangilinan said.
But Senator Sonny Angara, the chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, said they will have to wait for the House to pass its version first before his panel could start acting on the joint resolution, and all other tax measures for that matter.
“Basta ang usapin sa buwis, kailangan magmula yan sa Kamara sa ilalim ng Saligang Batas. Hindi po namin pwedeng ipasa yun hangga’t di naipapasa ng Kamara ang kanilang version (Under the Constitution, all tax measures must emanate from the House. We cannot pass the measure until the House passes its own version),” the chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means said in an interview.
“Under the Constitution, all tax measures must emanate from the House. We cannot pass the measure until the House passes its own version.”
Once the House submits its version, Angara has assured that Senate will immediately act on it.
But even if the House manages to pass the measure before Congress goes on Christmas break, he noted that Senate would be hard-pressed to act on it due to the ongoing deliberations on the proposed 2019 national budget.
“Pag usapan namin saka ng liderato. Sa ngayon busy kami sa budget. Ang pakiusap nga sa amin, we pass it (budget) before yearend (We will have to talk with the leadership about it. Right now we are busy with the budget. We were requested to pass it before yearend),” Angara said.
He also urged the government to “speed up the implementation of mitigating measures” that were provided under the TRAIN law to ease the burden from poor families who will be most affected by the new round of fuel excise tax increases.
Proponents of the measure at the House of Representatives have expressed concern that continuing the tax hike as scheduled would further increase the prices of goods and would have a dramatic impact on the poor.
However, the Department of Finance maintained that the recent rice supply problem early this year, as well as the high cost of crude oil in the world market, were the main culprits behind the high inflation level, not the imposition additional of taxes on fuel.
It pointed out that this was proven when the continuing decrease in global prices of petroleum products and the easing of rice supply constraints due to importations have caused the easing of inflation.
The Finance department also pointed out that the passage of the rice tariffication law would further ease the rice supply situation which, it stressed, has a much greater impact on inflation.
