Congress urged to open bicam meetings on sin tax bill to the public

An anti-smoking advocate on Monday asked Congress to open to the public its bicameral conference committee meetings on the sin tax bill to avoid possible “killer” insertions by pro-tobacco lawmakers. “We need to make it open so we will prevent killer insertions, knowing that the bicam is shrouded in secrecy,” said Anthony Leachon, a consultant on non-communicable diseases by the Health Department. The House of Representatives approved its version of the sin tax measure in June, which would translate to incremental revenues of P31.35 billion in the first year of implementation. The Senate version, passed just last week, would yield P40 billion. Both versions, to be reconciled through the bicameral meetings, fell below the government’s original target of P60 billion in incremental revenues. Leachon feared that with the meetings closed to the public, last-minute insertions by pro-tobacco lawmakers is a possibility, similar to what happened in the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 where a provision on libel was inserted during the bicameral meetings. “We don’t want these provisions that will undermine the credibility of the reform and lead to adverse, unintended consequences,” Leachon said. Leachon urged the bicameral committee to incorporate the best features of the Senate and House of Representatives sin tax versions, including the unitary tax structure, indexation to inflation, earmarking of incremental revenues for universal health care and increasing tax rates over the medium and long term. — KBK, GMA News