‘Only solution to inflation: Remove fuel tax’

With more and more Filipinos reeling from the impact of soaring consumer prices, an opposition law- maker is pushing for the immediate repeal of “anti-poor” excise taxes on kerosene and diesel as well as other excise fuel taxes under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law. “If at all, a repeal of the anti-poor imposition of excise taxes on kerosene and diesel as well as a temporary

moratorium on the imposition of all the other fuel excise taxes under TRAIN provides the fastest and simplest relief to Filipinos,” Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo said, adding that measures set in place to ease effects of record high inflation “would take months to be felt by the poorest Filipinos.” Inflation, or rate of price increase, reached a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in August. The figure is seen to rise in September.

“Every week that inflation is unaddressed, countless more Filipinos become poorer and hungrier. We must act now,” Quimbo added.

He reiterated his call for the immediate passage of House Bill 8171, which he authored, seeking to return to zero the excise taxes on kerosene and diesel imposed under Republic Act 10963 or the TRAIN law.

“Recent surveys have confirmed that the issue of rising prices is the top concern of our people. With inflation for September expected to top the already nine-year high 6.4 percent recorded in August, I am dumbfounded by the continuing refusal of our economic managers to consider a more immediate response,” Quimbo added.

His proposed measure also provides for the automatic suspension of fuel excise tax increases under TRAIN when inflation exceeds the government’s quarterly target. The bill is a counterpart to Senate Bill 1798 filed by Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV.

Quimbo said more than four million Filipinos may have become poor due to the runaway inflation, an estimate he based on a study of the Asian Development Bank at the height of the global financial meltdown in 2008, which stated that 2.3 million Filipinos became poor with every 10 percent increase in prices of essential food items such as rice, galunggong (round scad) and vegetables.

“With essentials increasing in price by more than 20 percent in the last seven months, it is fair to say that four million more Filipinos have become poor because of uncontrolled inflation,” Quimbo pointed out.

The House voted 187-14 with three abstentions approving on third and final reading House Bill 8083 or Train 2, renamed Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities or TRABAHO bill. It represents the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program.