Negrenses seek lower tax on sugared drinks

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The call for the reduction of the proposed excise tax on beverages, sweetened by using locally-produced sugar, is getting more support.

The Negros Occidental Provincial Board on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution urging lawmakers to reduce the proposed excise tax on sugar sweetened beverages from P10 to P5 per liter, in support of the stand of the Visayan-bloc House representatives.

PB Member Alain Gatuslao, chairman of the committee on laws and ordinances, said the resolution also enjoined other local government units in Negros Occidental and in the Visayas region to support the reduction of the tax.

Gatuslao said that, while the government may earn P22 billion for excise tax, it will have a great impact to the economy and livelihood of sugar-producing provinces, majority of residents of which rely much on sugar.

Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. is also pushing for lower excise tax on sugar, and that the P5 levy on sugar – being proposed by Rep. Alfredo Benitez (3rd district, Negros Occ)–"should be lowered further to P2.50 or P2."

The Sugar Alliance of the Philippines (SAP) also called on Congress for at least five to six years exemption on excise tax, which will only bring the sugar industry down.

Lawyer Dino Yulo, spokesman of SAP, said the sugar industry is just starting its modernization to be more productive and globally competitive, under the P2-billion Sugar Industry Developnment Fund.

Benitez earlier disclosed that there was a proposal that 15 percent of the proceeds from excise tax be allocated to the sugar industry, on top of the P2 billion annually from the Sugar Industry Development Fund.

"Having this excise tax implemented on us now will just defeat the very purpose of the fund coming from government," Yulo said.

Abang-Lingkod party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano, for his part, had proposed that the 15 percent share in the projected P3.5-billion incremental revenue– from the P10 per liter excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages–be given directly to the sugar milling districts through the Sugar Regulatory Administration.

Paduano, a Bacoleño, added that this will ensure an equitable distribution of the excise tax collection to the sugar milling districts in the country. (FREEMAN)