PHOTO BY LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Finance (DOF) should start considering suspending excise tax on oil products mandated by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Thursday.
In a statement, Lacson said that the law contained provisions that allow the government to suspend the imposition of excise tax on fuel under certain conditions, like when fuel prices are already causing an undue burden on the public.
“The TRAIN Law that we passed a few years ago provides that the [DOF] may suspend the implementation of the increase of the excise tax on fuel upon the recommendation of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) under certain conditions,” Lacson said.
“I, therefore, urge the DOF Secretary to exercise that option under the law, given the unabated increase of the prices of fuel resulting in a heavy burden on the transport sector and the public in general,” he added.
Lacson is not the first official to call for a suspension of the excise taxes, as Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate also sought for the total eradication of the TRAIN law.
Zarate also stressed that suspending the law is not simple because it may have to amend Section 43 of the said law, as the suspension was only allowed between 2018 and 2020 should the crude oil prices back then breach the $80 per barrel price in three months.
The TRAIN law was considered for suspension in the past, but the economic managers under President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet have argued that such a move would negatively affect the economy.
READ: 3 senators call for suspension of Train law
Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, the country is also being battered by high oil prices, with some pump stations reporting premium fuel prices to be on the way — or already past — the P70 per liter mark.
For the past eight weeks, the Department of Energy admitted that unleaded gasoline prices have risen by as much as P19.65 per liter, P18 per liter for diesel, and P15.49 per liter for kerosene.
READ: 8-week oil price hikes hammer Filipinos still being battered by COVID
Department of Finance, DOF, Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion, TRAIN Law, Senator Panfilo Lacson, excise tax, #2022candidates