LAWMAKERS and health advocates have expressed unified support for the passage of higher alcohol and e-cigarette taxes, saying this will be beneficial for the country’s overall health score.
In a press conference on Thursday, the respective chairmen of the Senate and House Ways and Means panels, Sen. Pia Cayetano and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, were joined by health advocates and coalition leaders in the country to call for the swift passage of a higher tax on alcoholic beverages, electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products to improve health outcomes in the country.
“According to the 2012 and 2015 Family Income and Expenditure Survey [FIES], the majority of the lower quintiles, which are the poor, spend more on alcohol as a percentage of their total expenditure compared to the rich. By raising the price of alcohol through taxation, these products will be less accessible. Hence, poor families will be signaled to use their budget wisely, and hopefully allocate their expenditures to more important things,” Salceda stated.
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives approved on third reading the bill on higher alcohol and e-cigarette taxes. The bill has since been transmitted to the Senate for further deliberations.
Youth discouraged
The Senate, meanwhile, has deliberated on the higher taxation and moved along with discussions with the Department of Health and the Department of Finance among others.
Cayetano, who leads the discussions on the higher taxation package, also said higher taxes will help discourage adolescents and children from trying these products.
“Lately, alcohol and tobacco companies have focused on marketing these products to be more appealing to a younger demographic, such as the alcopops in question during the previous committee hearing, and the vapor products which are being marketed as harm-reducing compared to traditional cigarettes. Rest assured that we will do our best to pass regulatory measures such as the tax increase that will be effective in discouraging adolescents and children from trying these products,” Cayetano stressed.
Sin Tax Coalition co-convener Dr. Anthony Leachon, who was part of the group who organized the call for support on the bill, said raising alcohol and tobacco taxes will be a sustainable source of funding for the Universal Health Care law.
“Raising sin taxes is a proven revenue-generating measure, and there is a need to address the current funding shortfall which amounts to P63 billion for the Universal Health Care law,” Leachon said.
According to Dr. Maricar Limpin of Action on Smoking and Health Philippines, alcohol is one of the leading causes of noncommunicable diseases (NCDS) and cancers.
Limpin emphasized that increasing alcohol taxes is proven to improve health outcomes by decreasing the risk of these diseases.
“Alcohol use is linked to various cancers such as cancers of the breast, liver, and the mouth, as well as NCDs such as stroke and hypertension. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in the number of reported deaths due to the use of e-cigarettes, whether through sickness or accidents. If we increase taxes to a point where people are discouraged from buying these products, then we can win many of our battles towards good health, especially those that concern alcohol and tobacco use,” said Limpin.
In his State of the Nation Address this year, President Rodrigo Duterte said the proposal to increase alcohol taxes is one of the priority measures of this Congress.