MANILA — A leader in the House of Representatives on Monday appealed to the public to give the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law a chance to be fully implemented to see its benefits.
House Committee on Dangerous Drugs Chairman Robert Ace Barbers made the appeal amid rising calls to suspend the tax reform law following complaints of soaring prices of basic commodities.
“We debated and approved it in Congress, let us give the TRAIN law a chance to take off, because if we are able to collect the revenues as promised by this law, then we have enough to subsidize these increases including fuel prices,” Barbers told a press conference.
1-Care Partylist Rep. Carlos Uybarreta echoed Barbers’ sentiments, saying that the inflation surge is caused by other factors, such as the rise in global oil prices.
Negros Oriental Rep. Arnulfo Teves, for his part, said suspending the imposition of excise tax on fuel products would address the problem of price hikes of basic goods and services.
“Let us admit that there are many factors affecting the fuel prices but some other factors are not beyond our control. Let us work on the solution that are within our control which is the excise tax, we can control that,” Teves said.
“We cannot control the dollar and the trouble in the Middle East but we control the suspension of excise tax by just suspending it,” Teves added, and mentioning the need for revenue agencies to improve their collection.
The TRAIN law imposes higher excise taxes on sweetened beverages, oil, vehicles and cigarettes to compensate for reduced personal income tax rates. (PNA)
