Aquino, lawmakers to expedite passage of sin tax bill

To please credit rating agencies, while gaining up to 1 percent equivalent in gross domestic product, the Aquino administration and allied lawmakers will expedite the passage of the sin tax bill.   At a meeting Wednesday in Malacañang, President Benigno Aquino III and his economic cluster Cabinet, together with House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales Jr.  and members of the ways and means committee and authors of the Tobacco Excise Tax bill reached an agreement on the measure.   “All have agreed to work together for the quick passage of the measure,” Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office head Ricky Carandang said in a text message to reporters.   International credit rating agencies “are very keen on our push for reforms in… sin taxes,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, a staunch supporter of the sin tax bill, said last month.   He cited World Bank estimates that Philippines “could gain as much as 1.3 percent of GDP in additional revenues from reforms in… sin taxes, like uniform tax rates and indexation.”   An improved tax base “would definitely boost our drive towards investment grade" rating, the finance chief added.   Different versions of sin tax legislation are pending in Congress, with the Finance Department supporting the variant that could raise P60 billion a year from cigarette and liquor taxes.   Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp., which controls 90 percent of the cigarette market, is opposing the passage of a new sin tax law, saying it can elicit resurgence in cigarette smuggling. London-based Fitch Ratings rated the country's sovereign debt a notch below investment grade while Moody's Investors Service Standard & Poors rated it two notches below investment grade. — VS, GMA News