House OKs on final reading bill exempting medical oxygen, COVID-19 supplies from taxes

As the Philippines continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on third and final reading the measure seeking to exempt medical oxygen and other medical supplies from all taxes.

Voting 202-0-0, the lower chamber approved House Bill 8895 or the proposed “Public Health Emergency Importation Tax Exemption Act.”

The proposed law exempts from taxes the manufacture, importation, sale, and donation of critical medical supplies and essential goods during public health emergencies.

The bill further mandates the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Finance to draw up the list of goods subject to exemption.

The exemptions will require the declaration of a public health emergency by the President after December 2023, but will be in effect until then, according to the measure.

Under the bill, the Secretary of Finance, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Trade and Industry, may also suspend the threshold on required export sales for availment of privileges under Title XIII of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, to allow manufacturers to sell to the domestic market. — Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA News