ILOILO CITY—As the public reels from increasing commodity prices, Sen. Grace Poe on Friday recommended the suspension of excise taxes on fuel as part of the tax-reform package.
This was the initial recommendation of the Senate Committee on Public Services after it conducted a public hearing in Iloilo City on May 25 on the effects of Republic Act 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, particularly on utilities and transportation.
“We will ask the Department of Finance and other government agencies to study well the suspension of excise taxes on fuel because of the continued rise in the prices of petroleum products,” said Poe, committee chairman, speaking mostly in Filipino.
During the hearing, senators were told that pump prices in Panay region have already increased by 30 percent, or at least P10 for diesel and gasoline, since December last year. The region already registered price upticks in rice (P5 per kilo), pork (P15 per kilo) and fish (P20 per kilo).
Farmers also have to fork out an additional P2,600 a month and a worker has to contend with additional P3,640 after the passage of the TRAIN law, the Senate panel was told. Consumer groups in Panay have cited the effects of the TRAIN law—aggravated by increasing fuel costs—as the culprit of higher commodity prices.
“In order to ease the burden of our people, especially the poor, the government must study thoroughly the suspension of full implementation of the TRAIN law, particularly on fuel excise taxes, as these affect all products,” Poe stressed.
Poe said she will ask her colleagues to support the proposal for the fuel excise tax suspension.
Since the law’s implementation in January this year, the average price increase has been P8.07 per liter for gasoline, P8.95 for diesel and P9.15 per liter of kerosene.
Calls for fuel excise tax suspension snowballed as consumer prices rose 4.5 percent in April compared to a year ago, setting its fastest pace in over five years.
Image credits: Alysa Salen