WHERE there is smoke, there’s burning and the information revealed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile about the plan of some legislators to raise the tax rate on cigarettes to ease alcohol taxes during the bicameral conference is catching fire and throwing light on the scheme.

Stakeholders—mostly tobacco farmers—are waxing hot and hostile against the proposed scheme disclosed earlier by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Marcos, a member of the Senate panel in the bicameral conference committee on the sin tax reform bill, said that there were suggestions from some members of the House panel to change the burden sharing on the projected revenue with tobacco having a bigger burden.

The Senate, in its version of the sin tax bill, has projected a P40-billion revenue on the first year of its implementation— 60 percent will come from tobacco products, 40 percent from alcohol products.

Marcos, however, said that during the first bicameral panel meeting on Wednesday, several members of the House panel suggested to change the burden sharing to either 70-30 or 80-20 with cigarette taking the bigger share of tax burden.

The lawmaker said that he is personally not in favor of the suggestion because apart from being biased in favor of the alcohol industry, the huge tax burden for tobacco will definitely destroy the industry and greatly affect those who are depending on it.

Marcos made it clear that the bicameral panel is yet to begin discussions on the burden sharing rates (today) Thursday, but he assured that he will object to any suggestion to further raise the tobacco tax rates.

Sen. Franklin Drilon, in a separate interview, said that the bicameral panel decided to tackle first the disagreeing provisions in the bill except for the rates and earmarking which will be tackled in the next meeting.

Job killer
”Regressive taxation is a job killer.” This is what the Peoples Coalition Against Regressive Taxation (PCART) shouted when they trooped on Wednesday to Shangril Hotel, EDSA in Pasig City where a bicameral committee meeting is held to thresh out the sin tax bill.

PCART spokesman Edwin Guarin whose group is composed of urban workers, takatak vendors (street cigarette vendors) and sari-sari store owners said the protest bear an image of newest Filipino Saint Pedro Calungsod and a cross to symbolize the agony they will be suffering if the sin tax bill is enacted.

“We ask them to think about us who scrape for a living. Enactment of the sin tax will be the killing blow to our livelihood,” Guarin said.

They prayed to Calungsod for the saint to give lawmakers an open and sound mind to study further the impact of adding higher taxes in tobacco and alcohol products.

They warned that lawmakers who would not heed to their call will bear the consequences when they vote in the next year’s mid-term elections.

Guarin said their group would also campaign against the lawmakers pushing for passage of regressive sin taxes.