Don’t mislead public on effects on sin tax increase – Cayetano

MANILA – Senator Pia Cayetano has urged alcohol industry players not to mislead the public that the raise in ‘sin’ taxes on alcoholic beverages is unfavorable to Filipinos, particularly the poor.


In an interview during the Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing, Cayetano warned industry players against painting a false picture that the proposed sin taxes would result to job losses.


“When we’re talking about [taxing] sin products, please do not scare the people into thinking that what [the government is] trying to do is harmful to the Filipino people,” Cayetano said.


Cayetano’s committee conducted its second public hearing on Senate Bill No. 383 and House Bill No. 1026 – Increasing the Excise Tax Rates on Alcohol Products and E-Cigarettes.


Alcohol industry leaders were given the opportunity to present their position on proposals to raise taxes on alcohol products to augment funds for the government’s universal health care program.


A particular argument raised by Distilled Spirits Association of the Philippines president Olivia Limpe-aw was that hiking taxes on their products would “deprive the poor of their little happiness.”


Cayetano, in response, said that the poor deserve “better kind of happiness” – one that will not cost them their health and their families’ wellbeing.


“I would often hear, ‘Do not deprive the poor of the things that make them happy,’ supposedly alcohol and cigarettes. That is such a sad, sad fact. Because in the long run, that is what causes them so much misery,” Cayetano said.


“If it is our goal to become an upper-middle income country, can we not leave our poor with this kind of happiness [harmful vices like smoking and excessive drinking]? Can we offer them instead a better kind of happiness, including educating them as to the right choices they could make?” she asked.


More than anything, Cayetano said the country’s alcohol problem causes more damage to millions of Filipino families in terms of related diseases, road crashes, domestic abuse, and crimes, and therefore should be addressed through a variety of public health interventions and social reforms, including taxation.


“If you’re going to say that there’s X amount of people to lose jobs, then I am going to dig up all the figures to show how many families are affected by the same sin products – how many deaths, how many battered women, how many neglected children,” she said.


Cayetano further said that she would continue to keep an open mind considering certain concerns raised by industry during the hearing. The Ways and Means Chair plans to create a technical working group to reconcile the positions of the Finance department with other stakeholders before finalizing the committee report next month./PN

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