HOUSE Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Thursday filed a bill in the House of Representatives that seeks to suspend the collection of the increase in excise taxes on gasoline, diesel, and other oil products for four years.
Under House Bill No. 10246, Rodriguez said, the collection of excise tax increases as provided for by Republic Act No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law shall be suspended from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2025.
Once the suspension takes effect, the government would continue collecting excise levies on oil products based on the old rates contained in the National Internal Revenue Code, said Rodriguez.
He said Section 43 includes a suspension provision covering the period 2018 to 2020 whenever crude oil prices exceeded $80 per barrel.
“Unfortunately, the provision for the suspension of the increase of excise taxes can only be applied until 2020. Then the Covid1-19 pandemic happened. Jobs were lost, businesses closed and the economy suffered,” he said.
He said at present, the country is only starting to gradually reopen its economy and people are beginning to go back to work.
However, the weekly increases in the pump prices of oil products are adding to the people’s suffering, he added.
Rodriguez noted that for the past eight weeks, the price of unleaded gasoline went up by P7.20 per liter and diesel by P8.65 per liter.
He pointed out that prices of unleaded gasoline and regular diesel in Metro Manila are now around P70.44 and P50.17 per liter, respectively; while in the Visayas, unleaded gasoline costs P73.96 per liter and diesel sells for P64.95 per liter.
In Mindanao, he said unleaded gasoline retails for P74.85 per liter and diesel for P70.65 per liter.
He said the increases in pump prices cause a domino effect on the prices of consumer goods, bringing more suffering to the people.
“One way to help the Filipino people is to temporarily suspend the collection of the increase in excise taxes on oil products imposed under the TRAIN Law until the country has fully recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
Rodriguez added that once the adjustments are suspended, the old rates that would apply would be P4.35 and P5.35 per liter on regular gasoline and unleaded gasoline instead of the present P10, while diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas would not be imposed any excise tax.
The suspension should result in a corresponding decrease in the prices of consumer goods and services, he stressed. (PR)
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