Sin tax system nearly doubles cigarette excise revenues in the Philippines

Cigarette excise payments in the Philippines during the first nine months of this year, at P61.6 billion, were almost double what they were during the first nine months of 2012, according to a story in The Philippine Star.

In a briefing given on Friday, revenue commissioner Kim Henares said excise tax payments by alcohol and cigarette manufacturers had amounted to P91.6 billion during the first nine months of 2013, a figure that was already ahead of the government’s full year target of P85.56 billion.

During the first nine months of 2012, payments by alcohol and cigarette manufacturers had amounted to P50.4 billion.

“This goes to show that we were right all along … that the sin tax law will generate ample revenues for the government,” Henares said.

The so-called sin tax law (Republic Act 10351) was introduced in January 2013.
Under the sin tax law, the Star reported, there would be a gradual shift to unitary taxation by 2017 to prevent downshifting to low price brands and to discourage the consumption of sin products.

The new law is said also to have removed a significant source of ‘leakages’ in cigarette tax revenues.
According to the Action for Economic Reforms (AER), the implementation of the sin tax law has been a success in terms of revenue collections.

And AER said that while it was still premature to determine the public health impact of the sin tax law, the measure had significantly boosted tax collections, which would translate to higher funding for health programs.