As former Chair of the Ways and Means Committee of the House and a principal author of the House version of Republic Act 10351 or the Sin Tax Reform Law, I am deeply concerned over the railroaded approval of the substitute bill to House Bill 11279, a bill effectively lowering taxes on tobacco products.
The House leadership and the bill’s sponsors surreptitiously maneuvered to approve a bad bill, which will result in a further decline in revenues and a rise in deaths and smoking-related diseases.
On January 27, the Ways and Means Committee called for a last-minute “briefing,” which was suddenly and arbitrarily converted into a hearing, where the bill lowering tobacco taxes was railroaded. Taxation requires representation, thus transparency is extremely important in the Ways and Means Committee. The opaque and stealthy actions of the committee members to railroad the bill despite the staunch opposition of the Department of Health, medical community, economists, and health advocates, is clearly a betrayal of public trust.
By lowering the annual increases in tobacco taxes, the proposed bill is undermining the Sin Tax Law, whose original intent was to widen fiscal space, provide funds for universal healthcare, and reduce the number of smokers. The substitute bill to HB 11279 is grossly negligent as it will make cigarettes cheaper and more accessible to the youth and the poor, worsen our health outcomes, and restrict the fiscal space during a time of shrinking revenues. It will not be effective in its supposed goal of mitigating illicit trade in the country, given that illicit products are so cheap that the lowering of taxes would not be able to deter. The key issue in fighting illicit trade is strengthening enforcement and political will.
I urge my fellow legislators to uphold the spirit of the Sin Tax Reform Law, a reform which has been largely successful in its health and revenue objectives, and to reject the substitute bill to House Bill 11279, which only benefits the tobacco industry. At a time that Congress is reeling from a series of heavy criticisms (e.g., on defunding PhilHealth, deprioritizing education, giving a fat budget to pork barrel, and covering up the bicameral conference back room deals), having this bad bill railroaded only exposes the institution as shameless, callous and beholden to greedy interests.#
