Despite the higher excise taxes imposed, the BIR reported on Tuesday that an impressive 25 percent to P141.8 billion increase was collected for the whole year of 2015 from the so called “sin products.” The highest record so far since its implementation.
Based on the report, the 2015 growth was more than the previous year’s collection of P112.81 billion and even broke the government’s P119.1 billion goal by 19.1 percent.
- Collections from cigarettes grew by 32 percent to P100.02 billion, the highest contribution among sin products surpassing 2014’s P75.5 billion.
- Fermented liquor rose by 14 percent to P28.26 billion compared to 2014’s P24.7 billion.
- Distilled spirits and compounded liquors grew by 7 percent to P13.51 billion from the previous year’s P12.5billion.
- Wines grew by 25 percent to P50 million higher than 2014’s P40 million.
- Packs of cigarettes released by factories in 2015 grew by 9.1 percent to 4.27 billion packs compared to 3.91 billion packs the year before.
- Fermented liquors rose by 1.4 percent to 1.43 billion liters against the 1.41 billion liters in 2014 while distilled spirits, compounded liquors and wines dropped by 4.19 percent to 398 million liters.
Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said that he expects the BIR and its commissioner Kim Henares to “continue to expand the fiscal space we need to invest more heavily in universal healthcare.”
Republic Act 10351 the law that imposed higher taxes on sin products was signed by the President in 2012 and was implemented in 2013. This was designed to be a deterrent to smoking and excessive drinking as well as to help the government finance its health programs.
Sources: The Standard, Business Inquirer, Manila Times
