DOF not backing proposal to tax salty foods

TAGAYTAY—The Department of Finance is not pushing for imposition of taxes on food with high salt content, two of its officials said Friday.

In separate occasions during a tax reform seminar and workshop for media practitioners, Finance Undersecretary Karl Chua and Assistant Secretary Antonio Lambino III said there is an ongoing study but it will not focus on tax imposition.

“We are studying it but it seems like the best way to do it is by regulation and promotion of the health aspects, not from the tax,” Chua said.

Lambino said there is now a technical working group composed by the DOF, Department of Trade and Industry and headed by the Department of Health studying how to lessen the consumption of food with less or zero nutritional value.

“Ang priority talaga natin ay suportahan ang health status ng ating mga kababayan, gawing mas malusog ang populasyon ng Pilipinas. So we are working with DTI and DOH to figure out ano nga ba ang mga dapat mabawasan na pagkonsumo ng pagkain na very low or zero nutritional value,” he said.

He said the objective of the study is to push for healthier eating habits and improve the health status of Filipinos.

“Yung pinag-aaralan natin kung ano ang uri ng pagkain na very low nutritional value, in fact some food have zero nutritional value, ‘yung ang tututukan,” he said.

He said one of the proposal is putting labels on the food to help the people choose what they eat.

“Meron diyan potential food labeling types of intervention para alam ng taumbayan kung ano ba ‘yung pagkain na mas masustansiya at ano yung hindi masustansiya,” Lambino said.

He clarified that there is no formal proposal on imposing tax on salty food.

“Wala pa pong specific na proposal. What we really want to focus on are low nutrition or zero nutrition food. Ang objective is to improve the health status of the Filipino people,” he said.

In October, DOH spokesperson and Undersecretary Eric Domingo said there’s nothing concrete yet but they are studying the possibility of taxing food with too much salt.

He said the experience of several countries showed that taxing on unhealthy food led to reduced consumption and pushed companies to reformulate their products. He added too much salt in the diet could cause hypertension, heart and kidney diseases.

Some senators have already opposed the plan. —NB, GMA News