Chiz files reso urging Duterte to reconsider imposition of excise tax hike on fuel in 2019

Senator Francis Escudero filed Wednesday a resolution urging President Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider the implementation of the second tranche of excise tax on fuel, or at least consider its immediate suspension when inflation becomes uncontrollable again anytime in 2019.

In Senate Resolution No. 964, Escudero said postponing the next round of increase in excise tax on fuel will unburden consumers who are already affected by the high price of goods due to the oil tax hike this year.

“It is best to suspend the implementation of the second tranche of fuel excise tax right away or that the suspension be swift in 2019 so as to effectively address inflation, before it again directly affects the lives of every Filipino,” he said.

He said inflation already reached a nine-year high in September at 6.7 percent.

He said the administration’s financial and economic managers projected last October that the price and multiple estimates of crude oil from Dubai would stay at an average price above the $80 per barrel threshold for the next two months. However, the price of Dubai crude oil has gone down in November.

“Considering the previous erroneous projection in October, certainty becomes nil at best and no assurance can ever be had either by the President or the public itself that high prices of goods and services will never happen, not to mention the fact that election spending will definitely exacerbate inflation in 2019, an election year, where demand-pull inflation may likely occur,” he said. — Amita Legaspi/RSJ, GMA News