FEB.

5, 2012 DATE

NR # 2670C
REF. NO.

Committee on Ways and Means to conduct full blast discussions on sin tax reform bills
Members of the House Committee on Ways and Means expressed support for the move to let the mother committee handle henceforth all discussions on pending sin tax reform bills to expedite the final decision on the proposals. The committee chaired by Rep. Isidro Ungab (3rd District, Davao City) last week decided to begin full blast discussions of all proposals to restructure the excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products which include the substitute bill drawn up by Rep. Eric Singson, Jr. (2nd District, Ilocos Sur) for 10 measures and House Bill 5727 recently filed by Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya (1st District, Cavite) which embodies the sin tax reform proposal of the Palace. Ungab said the mother committee will now take over discussions of these bill to expedite the process while ensuring that all stakeholders will be heard and consulted by the panel. On Tuesday, the committee will get the views of various stakeholders, including tobacco farmers from the North. Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo (2nd District, Valenzuela City) said that if committee members really want to expedite the passage of a sin tax reform bill, then they might as well let the lead committee handle the pending bills. Gunigundo said reverting the substitute bill back to the subcommittee on national internal revenue chaired by Singson will further delay passage of the measure. If you really want to speed up the process, then just let the mother committee handle the fine-tuning of the bill, Gunigundo said. Gunigundo cited the need to adjust the rates and computation of the taxable prices as these were based on 1997 levels. Inflation has overtaken the price levels and it would not work well for our revenue collection drive to maintain the 1997 levels. So, a 230percent inflation rate was used as basis for the increase in prices. Rep. Carlos Padilla (Lone District, Nueva Vizcaya) said one reason why the substitute bill was not adopted by the Committee on Ways and Means last week was that the authors claimed there were some concerns in their original bills which were not captured by the substitute bill.

FEB. 5, 2012 DATE

NR # 2670C
REF. NO.

Another reason is that the committee members wanted Abayas bill to be discussed along with the substitute bill according to him. It would be better to tackle all these bills at the same time, Padilla said. Padilla said a crucial issue in discussing the bills is to determine how a new sin tax reform law would be beneficial to the country. Thats why we have to deliberate very carefully. Padilla said the committee might be able to find a win-win solution on how to protect the interest of tobacco planters in case of a gradual phase out of the tobacco industry. For example if youre a tobacco planter, part of the proceeds could be in the form of a scholarship for your children that would enable them learn other skills. This would mitigate the impact of phasing out the industry. (30) rbb