IN 3 YEARS

Pacquiao: 9% annual hike in cigarette taxes to reduce number of smokers by 1M

Raising the excise tax on tobacco products by 9 percent a year from 2019 to 2022 will reduce the number of smokers by 1 million, Sen. Manny Pacquiao said Monday.

Pacquiao delivered a sponsorship speech for his proposed Senate Bill 1599 or An Act Raising the Excise Tax on Tobacco Products.

The bill seeks to raise the P60 per pack excise tax on tobacco by 9 percent each year starting Jan. 1, 2019 instead of 4 percent a year.

The Sin Tax law helped reduce smoking prevalence by 26 to 28 percent, and by 40 percent among Filipinos below 20 years old, the senator said, noting such gains must be sustained with higher rate of tax increase.

“The main objective of this bill is saving lives. Because of increasing incomes and population, we can expect one million new smokers by 2022 without any further increase in the tobacco tax. Most of them will come from the most vulnerable sectors: the youth who are the hope of the future, and the marginalized whose lives we want to uplift,” Pacquiao said.

“Sub alit kung maipapasa natin ang Senate Bill 1599, tinatayang isang milyong Pilipino ang mababawas sa bilang ng mga naninigarilyo. From 13 million in 2018, this number will drop to 12 million by 2022,” he added.

Universal Healthcare

Pacquiao noted that the Finance department estimated that his bill will generate P30 to P40 billion in yearly revenues, and could serve as source of funding for the implementation of Universal Healthcare law.

“The passage of the Universal Health Care Law, a landmark legislation championed by our colleagues in the Committee on Health, will require additional financing for its effective implementation. Ang Sin Tax ang inaasahang pagkukunan ng bulto ng pondong kakailanganin para sa Universal Health Care,” he said.

In the first year of the Sin Tax Law in 2013, tobacco excise tax collection soared to ?70.4 billion. As a result, the government was able to triple its health budget from ?44 billion in 2012 to ?171 billion in 2018.

“Mr. President, hindi po ito katulad ng ibang buwis. Tulungan natin ang mga mamamayang umiwas sa paninigarilyo,” Pacquiao said.

“Hindi lang natin mababawasan ang bilang ng mga smokers, mapapabuti din natin ang kalusugan ng mga kababayan nating  hindi naninigarilyo pero nakalalanghap ng second-hand smoke,” he added. —VDS, GMA News