THE government is ready to suspend the collection of excise taxes on fuel if global oil prices reach $80 per barrel, according to Malacañan Palace.
“What I know is that excise taxes will be suspended if they reach a certain amount. If I’m not mistaken, $80 [per barrel], so we are ready if oil prices reach [as high as $100 per barrel] to suspend the collection of excise taxes on fuel,” Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. said on Tuesday when asked about the government’s contingency plan to protect the public from the impact of oil prices reaching $100 per barrel.
The Palace statement also came a day after Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian urged the Duterte administration to prepare ahead “in the event that crude prices reach the $100-per-barrel threshold in the global market.”
Gatchalian’s statement came weeks ahead of the meeting in June by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), which controls 81.5 percent of the world’s proven crude-oil reserves.
On Tuesday gasoline prices went up by P1.60 ($0.031) per liter, diesel by P1.10 ($0.021) per liter and kerosene by P1 ($0.019) per liter.
Movements in the world oil market were cited as the reason for the price adjustment, said to be the highest since the start of the year.
As of press time, Brent crude price is already near $80 per barrel while Dubai crude is at $74.793 as of May 21.
Sen. Paolo Benigno A. “Bam” Aquino IV renewed his call to the government last Friday to suspend the implementation of excise tax on fuel.
Section 5 of Revenue Regulation 2-2018, which provides implementing guidelines for petroleum products under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, states that: “For the period covering 2018 to 2020, the scheduled increase in the excise tax on fuel as imposed, shall be suspended when the average Dubai crude based on Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) for three months prior to the scheduled increase of the month reaches or exceeds eighty dollars [$80] per barrel.”
Image credits: Alysa Salen