Hike cigarette tax to P90 per pack, gov't urged

A network of farmers' groups is calling on the government to impose cigarette taxes "nearly three times" more that the current rate to discourage more Filipinos from smoking.

From P35 per pack, the government wants to increase cigarette tax to P60 per pack as indicated in Senate Bill 1599. But Rural Poor Institute for Land and Human Rights Services, Inc. (Rights Inc.) said it should be P90.

"At P60, the higher tobacco tax is expected to discourage one million Filipinos from smoking. But at P90 per pack, the tax is seen to prevent one million more Filipinos, especially the youth, from taking up the dangerous and filthy habit of smoking," said Cynthia Esquillo, head of the anti-tobacco advocacy program at Rights Inc.

Esquillo believes ramping up the tax to P90 per pack will make cigarettes more unaffordable for younger Filipinos, resulting in fewer newer smokers in the future.

Fewer smokers, in turn, will translate into fewer patients afflicted with mouth, lung, throat, and several other cancers in the future, she said.

"As a result,  public health resources previously allotted to diseases directly caused by tobacco use will be freed up in the future," she added.

No less than President Rodrigo Duterte has voiced support for the proposal to impose additional excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products. —KBK, GMA News