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A lawmaker has filed a bill which seeks to exempt poor families from
the expanded value added tax (E-VAT) on electricity.
House Bill 3440 filed by Rep. Exequiel Javier of
Antique seeks to give a 50-percent discount to electricity users who
consume 0 to 50 kilowatt hours per month, 35-percent discount for
those consuming 51 to 70 kilowatt hours per month, and 20-percent
discount for those consuming 71 to 100 kilowatt hours per month.
Speaker Prospero Nograles stressed that the
House of Representatives will make moves to suspend the application
of the 12-percent E-VAT on the electric bills of
residential consumers whose energy usage is below P5,000 a month.
He said that he will ask the chairman of the
House Committee on Energy, Rep. Mikey Arroyo of Pampanga, to study
this possibility and its impact on the economy.
Nograles said removing the E-VAT on electricity
for those whose power consumption is below P5,000 a month will be a
great benefit for Filipinos who can hardly cope with the rising cost
of food and fuel.
“The high cost of food and fuel is already too
much to bear for many of our countrymen. I think that there is now a
need to consider lifting the expanded VAT on electricity,” he
said.
Javier’s proposed measure seeks to amend
Section 109 (1) of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
The legislator said that Section 73 of the
Electric Power Industry Reform Act mandates a “lifeline rate
subsidy” for marginalized customers of electricity. This
socialized pricing mechanism grants discounts to residential
customers with minimal electric consumption.
-- Jomar Canlas
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