Deputy Speaker and Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez filed a bill that seeks to suspend the collection of the increase in excise taxes on gasoline, diesel and other oil products for four years, from 2022 to 2025 on Thursday, October 28.
The proposed suspension is contained in Bill No. 10246. Under this legislation, only the excise tax adjustments imposed in the Tax Reform Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law would be suspended.
According to Rodrguez, Section 43 of Republic Act No. 10963 or the TRAIN Law includes a suspension provision which only covers the years 2018 to 2020 when crude oil prices exceed $80 per barrel.
“Unfortunately, the provision for the suspension of the increase of excise taxes can only be applied until 2020. Then the Covid-19 pandemic happened. Jobs were lost, businesses closed and the economy suffered”, he said.
Once the suspension takes its course, the government will continue to collect excise levies on oil products based on the old rates from the National Internal Revenue Code.
Meanwhile, 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 also emphasized 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.
“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”, the Deputy Speaker said.
Rodriguez added that once the adjustments are suspended, the old rates that will be applied would cost P4.35 and P5.35 per liter on regular gasoline and unleaded gasoline from the current price of P10, whereas diesel, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas would not be imposed any excise tax.
While the country is just starting to regain its economy and people are going back to work, the weekly increases in the pump prices of oil products are adding to the people’s daily problems, Rodriguez stated.