Anti-sin tax rallyists gather in House

Anti-sin tax bill groups hang effigies of senators and congressmen who are part of the bicameral conference committee on the sin tax bill. KAREN BONCOCAN

MANILA, Philippines — Anti-sin tax bill groups on Thursday trooped to the House of Representatives to continue their protest against the passage of the measure.

They shouted their opposition to the sin tax bill and even hung effigies of the senators and congressmen on the gates of Congress.

The bicameral conference committee on the sin tax bill is expected to continue its deliberations on the proposed measure at the House of Representatives at 2 p.m.

House minority leader Danilo Suarez, one of the members of the House contingent, said that they would try reconcile during this meeting the disagreeing provisions of House Bill 5727 and Senate Bill 3299. They have agreed to raise tax rates on alcohol and tobacco products every two years.

He said that they would push for their version which sought P31 billion in revenues, lower compared to the Senate’s P45 billion.

The reason for this was to ensure that the law, once enacted, would not make it too attractive for smugglers, he said.

Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab, who leads the House contingent for the bicameral committee, was optimistic that they would be able to come up with a sin tax bill before the end of the year.