The national government collected pesos 67.3 billion in excise taxes from “sin” products in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 15.8 percent over the same period last year.
Sin tax revenues collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs from January to March this year saw double-digit growth of pesos 58.1 billion in the first quarter of last year, preliminary data from BusinessMirror showed.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Maria Teresa S. Habitan said it was likely that collection of sin taxes was higher during the reporting period due to the increase in distances, especially for tobacco and alcohol products, as lockdown restrictions were relaxed and a ban on alcohol sales was lifted.
“On the one hand, Wala ng ban on alcohol; the restrictions could be eased compared to last year, ”Habitan told BusinessMirror.
Further increases in excise duty rates for tobacco products, e-cigarettes and alcohol under Republic Act 11346 and RA 11467 will help to raise the sin tax, Habitan said.
More than half of the government’s sin tax revenue for the first quarter of the year came from tobacco products, amounting to P37.1 billion, up 20.5 percent from P30.8 billion for the same period last year.
It was followed by alcohol products, which earned the government pesos 21.5 billion in excise taxes, up 17.8 percent over the previous year’s pesos of 18.2 billion.
However, collections of sweetened beverages fell 4.8 percent to P 8.6 billion in the first quarter of 2021, from P 9.1 billion in the previous year.
The government has now reached pesos 76 million in excise taxes on e-cigarettes, more than three times what it was raised at Pesos 24 million in the same period a year ago.
A significant part of the total sin taxes levied flows into the implementation of the universal health program.
For this year, Habitan said they remain confident that despite reintroducing tighter lockdown measures, particularly in the National Capital Region Plus earlier this year, the government will meet its collection target of 297.8 billion 19 cases.
In 2020, total sin tax collection decreased 3.27 percent to pesos 260.58 billion from pesos 269.4 billion in 2019 amid an economic recession due to the Covid-19 pandemic, based on preliminary data previously provided by
Business mirror.
Even so, the government managed to surpass its downgraded target of 235.3 billion pesos last year.
According to RA 11346, which came into force in July 2019, the excise duties on tobacco products were raised further this year to 50 P 50 per pack, from 45 P per pack a year ago.
Excise taxes on alcohol, heated tobacco products and steam products were also raised further under RA 11467.