Noy orders TRB to start hearings on toll tax

MANILA, Philippines -  President Aquino said Tuesday he instructed the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) to begin hearings on the value-added tax (VAT) on toll charges to determine the schedules of the increase in rates and the impact on motorists.

Aquino said the government has no choice but to implement the VAT on toll because of the Supreme Court (SC) ruling upholding its legality.

“The Supreme Court has already ordered (that) the VAT should have been collected since 1994. So there will be a series of hearings with the TRB, with the stakeholders, there will be public hearings, to come up with the schedules when it will be implemented, to hear if there’s opposition or explanation of systems on how do you round off, because the VAT is 12 percent (to be rounded off) to the nearest peso, up or down, to determine the rates,” he said.

The move, which has been fiercely opposed by motorists and transport groups who believe the tax will be passed on to tollway users, is expected to give the government an additional P2 billion a year in revenues.

The TRB said the Bureau of Internal Revenue agreed to impose the VAT on toll on Oct. 1. The implementation of the VAT was held back a month later than the original target of Sept. 1 to give tollway operators ample time to prepare for a smooth implementation of higher fees.

Notices would be published in newspapers once the new rates for each highway are finalized, the TRB said.

The Department of Finance ordered the imposition of VAT on toll charges last year as it struggled to find new sources of income. The SC earlier issued an order temporarily restraining the imposition of the toll tax, but in a decision last month, sided with the government on the issue.

Former Nueva Ecija congressman Renato Diaz and former assistant trade secretary Aurora Timbol, who filed the case with the SC, is asking the high tribunal to reconsider its ruling. The SC has yet to resolve the motion for reconsideration.-With Ding Cervantes