MANILA: Senior government officials said yesterday that the tobacco industry can afford the government’s preferred version of the sin-tax reform bill.
Secretary Ramon Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) sent the message when he was responding to the concerns raised by Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corp (PMFTC) on the sin-tax measure.
“That’s a common argument brought up in almost every country where sin taxes are about to be increased.
But the evidence will show that after a period of adjustment tobacco company incomes recover,” Carandang said, trying to downplay the concerns that the measure would lead to massive unemployment in the tobacco industry and encourage smuggling.
“The industry can afford it. Plus the greater good that the revenues can do for public health make it hard to argue against it,” Carandang added.
In an interview with state-run Radyo ng Bayan today, Deputy Palace Spokesperson Abigail Valte reiterated the government’s assurance that the sin-tax measure would not lead to massive unemployment in the tobacco industry, since part of its revenues would be used to fund safety nets for affected farmers.
“On the job losses, we have a safety net. Part of the revenue that will be collected will go into a safety net for tobacco farmers precisely because there are concerns that some of them might be displaced,” Valte added.
86 revenue men face legal cases
MANILA: Eighty-six personnel of the Bureau of Internal Revenue have been charged with graft and non-graft cases from January to August this year. Of this number, 12 were graft cases and 74 non-graft cases.
During this period, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has also decided 124 pending cases. Of the total number of cases, 39 personnel have been dismissed from service, while 46 were reprimanded with stern warning.
The number of decided cases declined to 124 from 385 in 2011.
Since 2008 and up to August 2012, the number of cases with decisions totalled 573.
A total of 181 personnel have been dismissed from service during the period. As of end-August 2012, the penalty of dismissal was imposed in at least eight cases.
Comm Kim Henares has already approved five cases. The bureau has forwarded the cases to the Department of Finance for confirmation. The filing of cases against erring Bureau of Internal Revenue personnel is part of efforts to weed out corruption in the second largest revenue office.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue accounts for 70 percent of total government revenues.
The Philippine star
