Philippines’ President Benigno Aquino III AFP PHOTO
VIENTIANE, Lao People’s Democratic Republic — As the sin tax bill debates heated up in the Senate, President Benigno Aquino III said on Tuesday he was still hoping for P60 billion on the high end and P40 billion on the low end of revenues from the measure.
Aquino told reporters here that he thought these projections to be realistic, contrary to the position taken by Senator Ralph Recto who said a too high revenue target would not be so.
The chief executive said he thought that users of cigarettes and alcohol would not immediately reduce their consumption of such products. This means the government would still have the chance to collect additional revenue.
“There will be time, that’s why it became a habit, before it would be stopped. So the benefits would come in first,” he said.
He added that if the sin tax could convince people to stop their vices or reduce their consumption of sin products, everybody would still benefit.
According to Aquino, a P60-billion revenue would be very good for the country because it could be used for health programs.
But P40 billion would be a happy compromise for him.
“At 40, we’re happy. At 60, we’ll be happier,” he said.
“But 40 is already, I think, sufficient to meet the objectives both in terms of gaining more resources and managing the deficit, but most importantly addressing the health issues,” he added.
Aquino is in Vientiane to attend the 9th Asia Europe Meeting, which ended on Tuesday.
The sin tax bill has been a powder keg in the Senate, with Recto resigning after his committee report that reduced projected sin tax revenues to P15 billion in the first year, with gradual increases in succeeding years.
Amid criticism of his report, Recto resigned his position as chair of the ways and means committee.
Recto’s replacement, Sen. Franklin Drilon, intends to generate at least P40 billion to P45 billion from sin taxes (based on his sponsorship speech on Tuesday), while Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago is pushing her bill that seeks P60 billion in revenues.