Bam seeks suspension of TRAIN excise tax if inflation breaches target

Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV is filing a bill restoring his earlier proposal to give the government the authority to stop implementing a provision of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law once inflation breaches the “target range.”

Aquino noted the safeguard mechanisms were included in the Senate version of TRAIN but was scrapped during the bicameral conference committee.

During the Senate economic affairs committee hearing on the inflationary impact of TRAIN on Wednesday, the senator asked representatives of the Duterte administration’s economic cluster who among them proposed to remove the safeguard provisions.

But none among those who attended the hearing were present during the bicameral conference committee hearing.

“Kung hindi inalis ang safeguard na ito, napatigil na sana natin ang TRAIN law ngayong napakataas na ng presyo ng mga bilihin,” Aquino noted.

“Unfortunately, doon sa final version nawala po ito. Kung na-retain iyon baka ngayon mayroong kapangyarihan ang ating gobyerno na ipatigil muna ‘yung excise taxes kapag out of control na ang presyo na nararanasan ng ating mga kababayan,” Aquino said in an interview after the hearing.

He said under the proposed TRAIN Act that was passed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte last December, the provisions on excise taxes could only be stopped if the global price of oil breaches $80 per barrel.

“Right now, nasa $71 na po siya. Paano kung manatili iyang $79 at hindi lumagpas ng $80, hindi po nila ito maipapatigil. So, we want to see a mechanism kung saan pag lumampas ang inflation rate, puwedeng sabihin na tama na muna itong TRAIN, i-rollback natin itong excise tax, pababain natin ang presyo, pababain natin ang inflation,” he said.

“Isang klarong klaro sa atin itong inflation range ang target range natin ay dapat hindi lalagpas ng 4 percent. ‘Yung naipangako nga ng Department of Finance noon, it’s only going to be anywhere from 3.7 percent to 3.9 percent. Klarong klaro na lampas-lampas na tayo diyan, so may rason na talaga na i-preno ang TRAIN kasi nabibigatan na ang mamamayan,” he added.

Inflation spiked to 4.5 percent in April year-on-year, the fastest in more than five years.

Under his proposal, Aquino said the excise tax provisions on petroleum products will be suspended.

“Ang nakatukoy naman po talaga diyan na nagpapataas ng presyo natin ay ‘yung excise taxes. Marami na pong nagbanggit na iyon po ang pinakamabigat doon sa TRAIN at nagpapataas ng presyo ng mga bilihin. So iyon po ang gusto nating itigil. We want to put a stop to the parts of TRAIN contributing to inflation and the increase in prices,” he said. —VDS, GMA News