PMPFTC proposes new tax collection system

MANILA, Philippines – The PMPFTC, the merged entity of Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco Corp., is pushing for a tax security system that it says would help the government collect more excise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.

PMPFTC president Chris Nelson said he is set to formally present a new excise collection scheme to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

On the sidelines of the recent Philippine Midyear Economic Briefing in Makati, Purisima instructed Nelson to formalize his proposal.

The Finance chief said he had read of Nelson’s proposal in the newspapers but he could not think of how government could possibly benefit from such a scheme unless a detailed plan was presented.

“Let him make the formal offer so we can evaluate its merits and we can act on it. Otherwise, those are just one of many ideas we hear about very often after which nothing happens,” Purisima said.

Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares said: “Why should government make the move and ask the manufacturers to come and make a formal proposal? The Bureau of Internal Revenue certainly will not do that.”

According to health group Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance or FCAP the cigarette and alcohol industry pays P75 billion to P100 billion worth of taxes every year.

Nelson said PMPFTC will push for a new scheme so that the industry would be able to pay more taxes now that government has abandoned the proposal by Swiss-based SICPA Security Products SA and its excise stamp tax proposal costing tens of billions of pesos.