Bicam on sin tax bill starts

Senators and congressmen started Wednesday its bicameral conference meeting to reconcile the disagreeing provisions in their versions of the ‘sin tax’ bill, which seeks to increase taxes on alcoholic drinks, heated tobacco products, and vapor cigarettes.

Both Senator Pia Cayetano and Albay Representative Joey Salceda, Senate and House ways and means committee chairperson, respectively, expressed hope they will be able to resolve the differences and ratify the bill the same day.

Cayetano said she and Salceda already had discussions on the differences and “have identified only a few issues.”

Salceda, for his part, said the House panel is very optimistic that “we will have robust output in this meeting and that hopefully can ratify whatever product we will have today.”

The Congress is set to go on break on December 20 and will resume session on January 20, 2020.

In the approved Senate version, P26 will be the specific tax for distilled spirits and alcopops in 2020 plus 50 percent of the net retail price (NRP). By 2021, the specific tax will be P30 plus 50 percent NRP. It will be adjusted to P33 plus 50 NRP in 2022; P37 and P41 plus NRP in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

For sparkling wines, the measure seeks to impose a specific tax of P50 for 750 milliliter bottle with a NRP of P500 or more beginning next year. By 2021 onwards, the P50 rate will be increased annually by six percent.

For still wines and carbonated wines, the same P50 specific tax rate will be imposed next year and it will have a six percent increase beginning 2021.

In the case of fermented liquor, a+ specific tax rate of P35 per liter will be imposed next year and it will have a yearly P2 per liter increase until it reaches P43 in 2024. By 2025 onwards, it will have an annual increase of six percent.

Senators also scrapped the proposed imposition of excise taxes on the tobacco heating systems and vapor products device as they viewed this difficult to implement administratively.

However, they included the imposition of higher penalties to those who will engage in illicit trade of HPTs and vape products.

The penalties will be 10 times higher than what is provided in the existing laws or from P50,000 to P500,000 and imprisonment of two years to four years.

Senators also included a provision restricting the selling of vape products to those 21 years old and below. —KBK, GMA News