Maceda, Enrile want Sin Tax Law amended
By Karen Boncocan
The law which imposes steeper tax rates on tobacco and alcoholic products may face amendments in the 16th Congress if two opposition senatorial bets make it to the Senate.
The law which imposes steeper tax rates on tobacco and alcoholic products may face amendments in the 16th Congress if two opposition senatorial bets make it to the Senate.
Could cigarette retailers be actually doing sin tax supporters a favor and encouraging more smokers to quit sooner?
Still dying for a smoke? Either you kick the habit now or you chew gum for a week. Hopefully by then, your favorite stick will be back in the market—except that it will cost you more.
Erico Santos, 45, who sells cigarettes under a footbridge on Buendia Avenue in Pasay City, fears the new “sin tax” law that raised the prices of cigarettes may leave him with the short end of the stick, so to speak.
A “sin tax” on cigarettes and alcohol—part of a government bid to boost finances—dampened the New Year spirit when it took effect throughout the country Tuesday in the midst of celebrations.
Calling it an “unqualified step forward,” a regional antitobacco group on Friday lauded the Philippines’ enactment of a “sin tax” reform law, but warned of renewed efforts by the tobacco industry to evade the law.
Health advocates on Wednesday scored Senator Ralph Recto for attacking civil society groups that received funding from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to fight the powerful tobacco lobby.
The signature drive in Central Visayas that called for the passage of the sin tax bill gathered more than 50,000 signatures in about five months.
Organizers of the signature drive however claimed to have reached about a million people, if the Facebook likes and shares, and open letter from organizations are taken into consideration.
The tobacco companies do more harm than good to the farmers that supply them with tobacco leaves for their cigarettes, according to a public health expert.
The man on the street ponders the implications on lifestyle and social life with the proposed law that drive prices of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes.
Republic Act No. 9334, or the Sin Tax Law, came into force in January 2005. The law mandates an increase in the excise tax rate on all brands of cigarettes and alcohol products every two years. It specifies varying rates of increases until 2011.
