Mighty rise in tax receipts

Excise tax collections from the Philippines’ Mighty Corporation have surged since the company was taken over by Japan Tobacco International Philippines, according to a story in The Philippine Star citing Department of Finance (DOF) figures.

According to DOF data, Mighty’s excise tax payments during the first 10 months of this year, at P6.20 billion, were up by 200 percent on those of the first 10 months of 2016, P2.07 billion.

Japan Tobacco bought Mighty from the Wongchuking family for P46.8 billion in September after the latter was embroiled in controversy over Mighty’s tax affairs. Of the amount paid by JT, P25 billion was offered to the government by Mighty as settlement of its tax liabilities.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said JTI Philippines was expected to pay a minimum of P3.1 billion a month starting in January, which is about P2 billion more a month than Mighty had been paying.

“For fiscal year 2018, JTI is expected to pay almost P40 billion out of the estimated P118 billion in total excise tax collections on tobacco products,” he said.