Pay excises diligently, vape industry told

A lawmaker has called on the country’s vape industry to be more diligent in paying taxes as only P7 million was collected from vape products in 2021. “Pay up, before this blows up in your face,” said House ways and means panel Chair Rep. Joey Salceda, who has filed House Bill No. 5532 seeking to increase excise taxes on vape products by as much as 14 percent. The Bureau of Internal Revenue reported that P242 million in excises were collected from heated tobacco products, and just P7 million from vape products, in 2021. Salceda, however, cited market data showing that the vape industry generates as much as P12.3 billion in sales. “In 2019, when the Vape Tax Law was being discussed, government revenue agencies projected as much as P1.4 billion in tax revenues annually from the measure,” he said.

—Julie M. Aurelio