Gov’t collected P440B from excise tax, import duties on fuel as of late May —DOF

The government has so far collected around P440 billion in excise tax and import duties, including value added tax (VAT), from petroleum products as of late May 2022 since the fuel marking scheme was implemented three years ago, data from the Department of Finance (DOF) showed.

Based on DOF figures from September 4, 2019 to May 26, 2022, total duties and taxes collected by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and excise tax collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on fuel imports amounted to P439.396 billion.

Broken down, the BOC’s revenue stood at P409.58 billion while those from the BIR totaled P29.81 billion.

The said revenue was collected from 42.104 billion liters of marked fuel.

The fuel marking program is pursuant to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN). The said program aims to curb oil smuggling.

Imported fuel marked by the government using a special ink means that necessary import duties have been paid.

The government has been firm in its stance against proposals to suspend the collection of excise tax and VAT on petroleum products as it would result in billions worth of foregone revenues for the government.

On Tuesday, the Malacañang reiterated that the collection of excise tax on oil cannot be suspended despite rising oil prices as the tax will fund government programs. 

The Department of Budget and Management earlier said the government will lose P117 billion in revenues or 0.5% of the country's gross domestic product if the government suspends the collection of excise tax on petroleum products. 

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, likewise, said that the projected P147 billion to be collected from excise tax and VAT on oil imports this year is already allocated in the 2022 national budget, which means such revenues have been allotted for spending on government projects and programs.

As it ruled out suspending the collection of fuel taxes, the Duterte administration opted to release cash subsidies for the public transport and the agriculture sectors amounting to P5 billion and P1.1 billion, respectively.

The Finance Department has argued that proposals aimed at suspending fuel taxes would result in a wider fiscal gap which would compel the government to borrow more.

The DOF said that the government’s running debt stock would have ballooned to P15.4 trillion or P2.2 trillion more than the projected P13.2 trillion by the end of 2022 had the Duterte administration yielded to legislators’ pressure to pass all pandemic relief measures and suspend the fuel excise tax. 

The current rates for the major petroleum products are as follows: P10 per liter for gasoline, P6 per liter for diesel, P5 per liter for kerosene, and P3 per liter for LPG.

Due to increased demand and supply challenges aggravated by the Russia-Ukraine war, global prices have been increasing.

Locally, pump prices have so far been on an uptrend for most of the year, with only eight weekly rollbacks implemented in 2022.

Latest data available from the Department of Energy (DOE) show that year-to-date adjustments stand at a net increase of P23.85 per liter for gasoline, P30.30 per liter for diesel, and P27.65 per liter for kerosene as of May 31, 2022. — RSJ, GMA News