SUSPENDING the collection of taxes from oil products is better than giving a P200 monthly aid for a year to the poorest of the poor, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III yesterday said as he appealed to President Duterte to reconsider his decision.
In an interview with DZBB, Pimentel said temporarily suspending collection of excise and value added taxes on oil products is the “fairest” move since it will benefit the general population and not only the poor.
Pimentel noted that there are two taxes imposed on oil products — the excise tax upon importation of fuel products, and value-added tax when a consumer buys oil products.
If the two taxes are suspended, Pimentel said at least P20 per liter will be shaven off the pump prices of oil.
Besides, he warned, giving a P200 monthly cash aid could be used for politicking especially now that it is election season.
“Mahirap ang execution nun masyadong ma-politika, panahon pa naman ng eleksiyon di ba. Sino ngayon ang mag aabot nung P200? Eh magiging kritikal yan. Yan ang mga iniiwasan natin na mas merong magiging pogi gamit ang resources ng gobyerno. Bawal po iyon (The execution will be hard since it might be tainted with politics considering it is now election season. Who will hand the P200 to the beneficiaries? That will be critical. That’s what we want to avoid, that someone will benefit from it using government resources. That is prohibited),” Pimentel said.
President Duterte last week turned down suggestions to suspend collection of excise taxes on fuel products and instead approved the distribution for one year of a P200 a month year subsidy to poor families to soften the impact of the oil price hikes.
The Department of Finance said suspending the collection of excise taxes on fuel will result to an income loss of around P105.9 billion.
Presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the government can temporarily suspend excise taxes on oil products until its prices become stable again.
“Temporary lang maski tatlong buwan. Itaas pa natin ang threshold from $80 per barrel, gawin natin $90 per barrel. Pero temporary lang. Baka akala ng DOF permanently na, hindi po (We can temporarily suspend [the taxes] even for only three months. Let us increase the threshold from $80 per barrel to $90 per barrel. That is only temporary. The DOF might be thinking that it is permanent, but no sir, it is not),” Lacson said during Saturday night’s presidential debates organized by the Commission on Elections.
