Recto: I lost sleep too over sin tax act

Senator Ralph Recto. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ralph Recto on Friday said he lost sleep too over over the controversial sin tax reform act as he took exception to the BIR commissioner Kim Henares’ remarks that finance and internal revenue staff felt betrayed after working long hours and cooperating with the Senate for a version of the sin tax reform act acceptable to the administration.

Henares remarks’ came after Recto presented on Wednesday in the Senate a sin tax version that only targetted revenues of P15 billion on the first year rather than P60 billion, which is the objective of the DOF, Department of Health, and the BIR.

“They were not the only ones that lost sleep here. My staff and I also worked long hours the last two weeks to come up with this committee report,” Recto told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview.

Recto indicated that the harsh words he received could have been more appropriate if he just sat on the measure instead of working hard to come up with what he thought was the right balance between revenue generation and preventing industries from getting taxed to extinction.

“Let’s debate on this.  This is just the initial presentation,” Recto said in reaction to the criticisms that his ways and means committee’s version provided for tax rates that weren’t enough to generate enough revenues for the government’s health programs nor make a dent on harmful alcohol and cigarette use.

Recto stressed that based on the figures submitted by the DOF and BIR, his proposal was more “realistic” in generating revenues and decreasing consumption of sin products than the provisions the agencies want.

“Mine is realistic. Theirs is a leap of faith,” Recto said.