Senator Manny Pacquiao wants to increase cigarette excise tax in the Philippines from P30 to P60 a pack from next year, according to a story in the Philippine Star.
And he wants cigarette excise to be increased by nine percent each year after that.
In proposing Senate Bill 1599, which seeks to amend RA 10351, otherwise known as the sin tax reform law, Pacquiao said the measure would reduce smoking prevalence and increase government revenues.
Pacquiao said the sin tax law had been successful in curbing smoking, especially among poor and rural people.
It had contributed also to increasing the national budget for health from 2012-2016 from P57 billion to P123 billion.
The price of cigarettes in the Philippines is low compared to that in other countries.
The Star said that one survey had shown that while a pack of a particular brand of cigarettes sold for US$1.18 in the Philippines, in Australia it sold for US19.82 a pack, in Singapore for US$9.66, in Hong Kong for US$7.30, in the US for US$6.77, in Japan for US$4.04, in Thailand for US3.67, in China for US$3.04, and in Indonesia for US$1.48.