Leftist lawmakers to block P6 diesel tax

Leftist lawmakers and their militant party-list organizations vowed to block the proposed P6 tax on diesel and even higher tax rates on gasoline and other oil products.

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said they would launch protest actions against the “deceptive, anti-people tax reform package under House Bill 4774 being pushed by the Department of Finance (DOF)” and called on other groups and organized sectors to also join the protests.

“It is the poor who will bear the brunt of these so-called tax reforms. The tax on diesel and higher taxes on other oil products will mean higher cost of transportation and increased prices of products,” Zarate said.

“Consumers, commuters, housewives, students, workers, public utility drivers, people in urban and rural areas – they are the ones who will suffer. Unfortunately for them, this is what President Duterte’s economic managers want, and which Congress will give them,” he added.

The House of Representatives committee on ways and means voted on Wednesday to endorse Bill 4774, authored by its chairman Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua, which, if approved, would mean a P6-per-liter or kilogram tax on diesel, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas and bunker oil.

Its proposed implementation would be staggered to P3 on Jan. 1, 2018, another P2 a year after and an additional P1 on Jan. 1, 2020.

The Cua-DOF bill also increases taxes on gasoline and other oil products to P8 per liter or kilogram in 2018, P9 in 2019 and P10 in 2020. The present levies on these products range from P3.50 to P5.35.

Taxes on vehicles will also be raised and those earning millions might have to pay more.

Low-income earners might benefit as the bill proposes a cut on their income taxes, but Zarate said this might just be wiped out when prices start to go up.

“Even those who don’t have vehicles would be affected by the resulting increase in the prices of goods. In fact, more money will be taken from them by these so-called tax reforms. They will end up poorer,” the lawmaker argued.

Zarate suggested that instead of taxing the poor, the Duterte administration should impose more taxes on the richest Filipinos and on the top 1,000 corporations “who benefit the most from the exploitation of our natural resources and our workers.”