Tobacco revenue increased

The Philippines’ government is expected to generate about P183.2 billion in revenue from excise taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages this year, according to a story in The Philippine Star citing data from the Department of Finance (DOF).
DOF figures indicate that P126.97 billion of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) income this year is projected to come from tobacco excise tax.
This would be 13.78 percent higher than the 2016 income from tobacco taxes, P111.59 billion.
The DOF projects that another P56.23 billion will this year be provided by alcohol excise tax.
This would be 9.90 percent higher than last year’s alcohol-tax revenue of P51.16 billion.
The increases in the excise tax revenues from tobacco and alcohol were said to have been brought about by the enactment of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act.
Meanwhile, the BIR is gearing up for the implementation of a new revenue stamp system for tobacco and alcoholic products.
The finance undersecretary Antonette Tionko said the new designs for tobacco tax stamps and the newly-crafted tax stamp system for alcoholic drinks would be implemented within the first quarter.