House okays higher alcohol excise
The bill however did not reach the executive department as the Senate failed to pass the same even as the president certified it as urgent
The House committee on ways and means chaired by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda on Tuesday approved the bill seeking to increase the excise tax rates on alcohol products.
During the first committee deliberation on the priority tax measures of the administration, 43 of its members approved the motion of Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrelita Suansing to adopt House Bill 1026 or “An Act amending sections 141, 142 and 143 or the Republic Act 8424, as amended, otherwise known as the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.”
In her motion, Suansing invoked House Rule 48 which states that “in case of bills or resolutions that are identified as priority measures of the House which were previously filed in the immediately pending Congress and have been approved on third reading, the same may be disposed of as matters already reported upon the approval of majority of the members of the committee present, there being a quorum.”
A similar measure passed the third reading in the last Congress. The bill however did not reach the executive department as the Senate failed to pass the same even as the president certified it as urgent.
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez objected to the Suansing motion as he insisted that stakeholders should deliberate first on the tax measures. The panel proceeded with the voting on the measure amid the objection.
HB 1026 seeks to increase the excise tax rates on alcohol products and the indexation rate to 10 percent to account for inflation and income.
Also, to further simplify the tax administration on spirits, the tax shall be based on the basis of volume or per liter and no longer per proof liter.
The revenues that will be generated from the measure will fund social services and infrastructure programs of the government.
The bill, authored by Salceda, was filed to “discourage consumption and to make the consumers of alcohol bear the cost of the negative effect on other people not consuming the product.”
House Majority leader Martin Romualdez earlier vowed the swift passage of the priority tax measures President Rodrigo Duterte outlined in his last State of the Nation Address, including the bill increasing excise tax rates on alcohol products, the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities bill and the remaining packages under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law. Romualdez said these bills could be referred immediately for plenary discussions as these already passed the third and final reading last Congress.
According to the rules of the House, the committee should immediately prepare the necessary committee report on the approved measure for inclusion in the calendar of business.