Defensor urges excise tax hike suspension until 2024
ANAKALUSUGAN party-list Rep. Mike Defensor on Sunday batted for the prolonged suspension of the collection of the increase in excise taxes on petroleum products – until Dec. 31, 2024 – “to provide extensive economic relief to consumers battered by soaring fuel prices.”
“We are counting on consumer spending to contribute in a big way to the country’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis in the years ahead. We want that spending to be energized by a lengthened suspension of the collection of the increase in fuel excise taxes,” Defensor said.
As proposed by Defensor in House Bill (HB) No. 10411, the suspension of the collection of the increase in excise taxes on gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and other oil products – as imposed under Section 43 of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law – would be effective instantly and “shall remain in effect until Dec. 31, 2024.”
“We want the government to sacrifice the increase in fuel excise taxes so that the consumers will get to keep billions of pesos in their pockets for their own spending,” Defensor said.
“The government can always resort to more borrowing to sustain its own spending, but ordinary consumers cannot do the same,” Defensor pointed out.
The excise tax on fuel products now stands at P10 per liter for gasoline, P6 per liter for diesel, and P5 per liter for kerosene.
The Department of Finance (DoF) earlier said that the government would give up some P131.4 billion in revenues in 2022 alone, should the collection of the increase in fuel excise taxes be suspended.
Due to rising cost of crude in the global markets, the average retail price per liter of gasoline has soared by P20.80 since the start of the year.
Meanwhile, the retail prices per liter of diesel and kerosene have surged by P18.45 and P16.04, respectively, according to the Department of Energy (DoE).
