House panel OKs bill scrapping travel tax

The bill to abolish the travel tax moved forward another stage in the House of Representatives on Monday after the House ways and means panel approved the unnumbered substitute bill, endorsing it for plenary debates. 

The measure, authored by House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos of Ilocos Norte and several other legislators, seeks to scrap travel tax dues of P2,700 for first-class passengers and P1,620 for economy travelers.

The bill, previously approved by the House committee on tourism, needed the ways and means panel’s approval because it affects government revenue. It will next be deliberated by the House appropriations panel before being sponsored for discussion in the House plenary.

Currently, travel tax collections fund programs under the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

Manila First District Rep. Ernix Dionesio filed the motion to approve the bill and also proposed listing all lawmakers present as co-authors, a motion the panel unanimously approved.

House ways and means panel chairman Miro Quimbo of Marikina City said abolishing the travel tax ensures the country’s tax system does not burden those with less.

“Today, there are tens of millions of middle-class Filipinos whose voices, together with the poorest of the poor, are too often unheard in policy discussions," he said.

"As chair of the Committee on Ways and Means, I must emphasize a basic principle that this committee shall continue to uphold: our tax system must remain progressive,” Quimbo added.

Quimbo said the country’s tax system should not be regressive, taking funds from ordinary Filipinos struggling to make ends meet.

“Hindi natin maaaring payagan na maging regressive ang ating sistema ng pagbubuwis—na ang pondo para sa mahahalagang programa ng gobyerno ay nanggagaling sa bulsa ng mga ordinaryong Pilipino na nagsisikap lamang makaahon sa buhay.”

(We cannot have a regressive system in which government funds come from ordinary Filipinos working hard to make ends meet.)

Quimbo earlier estimated that abolishing the travel tax could generate as much as P22 billion in additional economic activity.

The Philippines remains the only country in Southeast Asia that continues to impose a travel tax.—MCG, GMA Integrated News