Albay Representative Joey Salceda desires to extend the taxes on vape merchandise by a mean of 14 p.c to assist elevate funds for the federal government, based on Mariz Umali’s “24 Oras” report on Tuesday.
House Bill No. 5532 which he filed additionally proposed to impose a 20% advert valorem plus P20 particular tax on vaping units. The measure is anticipated to boost revenues of round P2.34 billion yearly.
Based on authorities report, solely round P242 million had been solely collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue within the heated tobacco merchandise, whereas P7 million in vape merchandise in 2021.
The Philippine E-Cigarettes Industry Association appealed to the federal government to completely implement Republic Act 11467, which will increase the excise taxes on alcohol merchandise, digital cigarettes, and heated tobacco merchandise.
The group provides it’s open to supporting amendments to the legislation if there’s want to extend current tax charges.
“Sana tama lang, ‘di naman mamamatay ‘yung industry kasi ‘pag masyadong mataas ang tax, mapupush din naman to the gray market,” Joey Dulay, the group’s president mentioned.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Philippines, a non-government group, mentioned many youth can afford vape merchandise due to low tax.
“Ang pinoproteksyunan naman natin ay ang mga kabataan dahil ayaw natin na magkasakit sila ‘no, at mamatay nang maaga dahil sa paggamit ng vape. So, sino ba ang mas mahalaga? Mas mahalaga ba ang buhay ng industries o ang buhay ng mga tao lalong-lalo na ng kabataan? As soon as possible, sana maamyendahan na,” Maricar Limpin, govt director the group, mentioned.
Based on the 2021 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) outcomes, the general prevalence of the ever used e-cigarettes amongst all adults was 5.7%, whereas the present use of e-cigarettes was 2.1%.
Meanwhile, one in each 5 Filipino adults or 15.1 million adults at present use tobacco, amongst whom the share of males (34.7%) who at present use tobacco was eight occasions increased than females (4.2%).—Richa Noriega/LDF, GMA Integrated News
