Mighty tax payment reflects market share

A senior executive at the Philippines-based cigarette manufacturer Mighty Corp. has said that the tax payment the company made for last year should put to rest false accusations that it had not been paying the correct level of duties and taxes, according to a story in the Manila Bulletin.

Mighty Corp. was said to have paid excise tax of PHP8 billion for the year 2013, up from PHP300 million the previous year.

“The tax we paid for the year 2013 reflects the jump in our market share and our fair share in the increased taxes on ‘sin’ products during last year,” said Oscar Barrientos, the company’s executive vice president.

Barrientos, a retired regional trial court judge, said that despite charges made in the news media and by some members of Congress against the company for non-payment of taxes, no case had been filed in court.

He said Mighty Corp. had paid PHP300 million in 2012 when its share of the local cigarette market was just 3 percent.

However, the company’s market share had shot up since the government put into effect Republic Act 10352, otherwise known as the sin tax law.