MANILA, Philippines — Tobacco trade gamers are looking for a “affordable” 2-centavo (P0.02) enhance within the value of latest cigarette tax stamps after the state-run printer APO Manufacturing Unit Inc. sought an even bigger hike that may double its revenue.
In an announcement Sunday, Philippine Tobacco Institute (PTI) stated it hopes to settle with APO and the Bureau of Inside Income (BIR) their concern on the proposal to jack up the price of tax stamps by 8 centavos (P0.08) per stamp — to 23 centavos (P0.23) from 15 centavos (P0.15) at current — once they meet on Monday.
Inside income stamps have been being affixed on tax-paid cigarette packs to make sure the gathering of right excise levy, however unscrupulous merchants had been in a position to churn out counterfeit stamps, leading to foregone revenues for the federal government. The BIR will come out with new and improved stamps, which might nonetheless be printed by APO.
Nevertheless, APO’s proposed value enhance was opposed by PTI, which teams home cigarette producers and exporters in addition to tobacco leaf growers and suppliers.
PTI president Rodolfo Salanga claimed that “the price of printing a tax stamp is simply 11.37 centavos (P0.1137)” a bit such that the worth hike would jack up APO’s web revenue by 102 %.
The present value of 15 centavos (P0.15) per stamp already gave APO a 30-percent margin, Salanga stated.
PTI’s proposal to extend the tax stamp value by solely 2 centavos (P0.02) to 17 centavos (P0.17) can be the identical as the rise in 2018 from the unique value of 13 centavos (P0.13) when the interior income stamps built-in system (Irsis) was began by the BIR in 2014.
PTI was nervous {that a} important enhance in tax stamp costs would additional burden the tobacco trade, which already shouldered greater excise taxes whereas preventing rampant illicit commerce.
“The trade has persistently elevated excise tax funds to the federal government from P33 billion in 2012 to P148.5 billion in 2020, a 350-percent enhance that enabled the federal government to fund its developmental initiatives in addition to the Common Well being Care (UHC) program,” Salanga stated.
Additionally, “the trade has been battered with annual excise tax will increase and manufacturing quantity is down by half from 120 billion sticks in 2012 to 60 billion sticks final 12 months, thus, hitting us with one other blow to boost the price of the tax stamps, can be an excessive amount of,” Salanga added.
“We now have immensely contributed to the federal government and imposing a steep value on the price of the tax stamp is an excessive amount of to bear and would solely bleed the trade additional,” in keeping with Salanga.
/MUF
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