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THE Senate will block any proposal to increase the
current tax measures of the national government, a legislator
said Monday.
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, finance
committee chairman, said there is no reason to tax the people
further to generate more revenues “as long as the Department of
Finance guards the country’s tax base.”
The government earlier announced
plans to implement additional tax on sin products and text
massaging, which Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves said “is
something that our legislators may want to look into.”
A research by the National Tax
Research Center showed the government can raise P40.2 billion by
increasing tax on texting alone.
Meanwhile, under Republic Act
9334 legislated in 2005 to increase the excise tax rates imposed on
alcohol and tobacco products, the cigarette brands are paying tax
rates on their 1996 net retail prices.
The new brands, however, are
classified according to their current net retail prices.
The Finance department data,
however, showed the government is eyeing to collect P47.541 billion
in taxes on tobacco and alcoholic beverage products this year, or
P2.113 billion higher than the P45.428-billion goal last year.
--Chino S. Leyco
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