Tax hike sought
Photo by travel oriented
The Philippines Senator Manny Pacquiao said yesterday that his proposal to double the excise tax on cigarettes would prevent 850,000 people from taking up smoking during its first year of implementation, according to a PTV News story.
During a Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing on tobacco tax bills, Pacquiao said increasing cigarette tax would also raise funds for the government’s Universal Health Care (UHC) program.
Pacquiao said that, currently, 13 million Filipinos were smokers and 1.2 million were expected to join their ranks by 2022.
“Most of the victims are from the youth and marginalized sectors – people who have no means of paying for the harmful effects of smoking,” he said. “We have to protect the youth from smoking, which is highly addictive.”
Pacquiao filed Senate Bill 1599, which seeks to increase the current cigarette tax rate from PHP30 per pack to PHP60 per pack.
He said his tax bill was supported by the Department of Health and Department of Finance, and added that President Rodrigo Duterte had approved these Departments’ backing for the bill.
He urged the committee to approve the “very urgent measure” before the session ended next week.