Quimbo files bill authorizing Marcos to suspend fuel excise taxes during emergencies

House ways and means panel chair and Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Miro Quimbo has filed a bill seeking to allow the President to suspend or reduce the excise tax on petroleum products during national or global economic emergencies.

Quimbo filed House Bill 8257 just a few hours after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he would talk to leaders of Congress on granting him the authority to reduce fuel excise taxes once the price of Dubai crude exceeds $80 per barrel amid the ongoing airstrikes in the Middle East. 

The measure proposes to amend Section 148 of the 1997 National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) and allow the President, as recommended by the Finance Secretary, to suspend the imposition of fuel excise taxes under the following conditions:

• The average Dubai crude oil price has reached or exceeded $80 per barrel for a continuous period of at least three months immediately preceding the issuance of the suspension order; or
• A state of national emergency or calamity has been declared by the President, and such condition has resulted in extraordinary increases in domestic pump prices of petroleum products as certified by the Energy Secretary.

The suspension may be applied to specific petroleum products and may be implemented either as a full suspension or partial reduction of the applicable excise tax rates, as warranted by prevailing conditions.

“Any suspension or reduction authorized under this will be effective for a period not exceeding six months, unless otherwise extended or terminated earlier by Congress through a joint resolution, provided, that the aggregate period of such suspension shall not exceed one calendar year,” the bill read.

Quimbo’s proposal stated that any suspension or reduction will be lifted when the conditions that warrant it no longer exist.

The bill also proposed that the applicable excise tax rates will be automatically reinstated without need for further legislative or executive action upon the expiration of the period of suspension.

Finally, the President, through the Finance Secretary, should submit a report on the following to Congress within 15 days from the suspension of fuel excise taxes and every month thereafter: 

• The factual basis for the suspension or reduction of excise taxes
• The estimated foregone revenues, and
• The expected impact on inflation, fuel prices, and other economic activity.

— JMA, GMA Integrated News