Excise tax suspension pushed
President Duterte can shortcut process – Lacson
Congress will leave it to President Duterte to decide when to suspend the collection of excise tax on fuel in a bid to slow down the rising inflation rate. According to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) 1 Act, the President is authorized to suspend the collection of excise tax should the import cost of fossil fuel hits the $80 per barrel level.
Lacson said the President can shortcut the process by sitting down with his economic managers and suspend it.
“Pag sinabing President suspend natin, total sa batas natin, total sa batas naman, he’s not violating TRAIN 1 in doing so (If the President orders the suspension, he will not be violating the law),”Lacson said.
“Naroon sa batas na ‘yan (That is in the law already). We don’t need to intervene, except in the exercise of oversight,” Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, a member of the Senate majority bloc, said.
But Congress can exercise its oversight functions if the Executive branch has not done its job “kasi kami ang nagpasa ng batas (because we were the ones who passed the legislative measure),” Lacson added.
There have been calls for the President to suspend the collection of excise tax on oil products since the passage of TRAIN 1 because the low inflation rate forecast by the administration’s economic and financial experts has long been breached.
And price of imported oil is still expected to go higher because of increased demand during winter time.
Tuesday night, President Dutertesaid he was considering the suspension of the excise taxes on oil products to help tame the country’s soaring inflation rate. Excise tax cut To ease the burden of Filipino consumers from high prices, the President said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III was studying the possibility of reducing the fuel excise taxes by P2.00.
TRAIN 1 authorizes the government to collect excise tax of 17 per liter on gasoline and 12.50 per liter on diesel.
Lacson described as “good” President Duterte’s pronouncement that he is open to suspending the implementation of excise tax on fuel.
He, however, pointed out that the wording of the law when it went through the legislative bicameral conference committee process did not make the President’s option to suspend or not as absolute.
“It was a play on words nakailanganpag-usapan, hindi automatic(It was a play on words that there is a need for discussions, and not automatic.),” he said.
Lacson pointed that the Senate version of the TRAIN 1 bill makes it absolute for the President to suspend the collection of excise tax.
But Lacson said the President had already said that there is a way out in suspending the collection of excise tax.
Senator Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV expressed hope that the government will unite to support President Duterte’s desire to suspend the excise tax on oil.
“We are hopeful that all the various sectors in government will unite to ensure this plan to suspend the excise tax and cuts on the prices of petroleum will come true,” Aquino said in Filipino.
TRAIN 2 derailed
Meanwhile, economic managers have reportedly conceded that the second tranche of the government's tax reform program would not hurdle Congress anytime soon.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri revealed this after a meeting among President Duterte, senators, and some Cabinet members in Malacañang on Monday.
Zubiri said Secretary Dominguez raised before lawmakers the approval of the proposed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities (TRABAHO), earlier known as TRAIN 2, among other tax measures.
Senators, however, said they would rather address first the problem on the rising prices of commodities.
“Secretary Dominguez is resigned to the fact that TRAIN 2 may not be passed this year. He was asking if we can pass it next year,” Zubiri said.
“We told the secretary that we should first solve our inflationary problems. Let's fix inflation, let's fix high prices, let's stabilize the inflationary pattern when it comes to food, and other services, and then maybe we can discuss other tax measures,” Zubiri said. (With reports from Hannah L. Torregoza and Vanne P. Terrazola)