Palace urged to rescind fuel taxes

Malacañang should rescind the taxes imposed on diesel and kerosene altogether after it agreed to suspend the second tranche of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Act next year, according to Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo.

Adversely affected the poor

“We want to lift the excise on fuel, particularly diesel and kerosene, because it really adversely affected the poor. That’s what we have been saying even before,” Quimbo said in a radio interview on Sunday.

He said the recent drop in world crude oil prices was not enough to cover the effects of the collection of P2.50 per liter of fuel since January, which financial experts said was a major factor why the country suffered a 6.7-percent inflation rate for the past two months.

‘We need to remove it’

“Nothing has changed. It (TRAIN law) remains antipoor even if the prices of oil dropped,” Quimbo said.

“The fact that we are imposing new taxes, the poor Filipinos are the ones suffering from it. That’s why we need to remove it,” he said.

The Liberal Party stalwart believed that the resolution he filed in the House of Representatives calling for the lifting of fuel excise would get the nod of Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo if more of his colleagues would openly support it.

“The Speaker works based on consensus. If she sees that many congressmen were supporting this, I think getting her support would be easier,” Quimbo said.