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The Senate Bills (SBs) 3190 and 3191 are measures that were meant to restructure the excise tax on alcohol products and tobacco respectively. The senate is inclined to approve these two bills on the so-called “sin” products, in the hope of raising for the government more revenues.

Unfortunately though, they senate cannot still do anything at the moment because the House of Representatives has yet to act on their version of the bill. Chairman on the committee on ways and means, Senator Panfilo M. Lacson, they have to wait for actions in the House where all tax measures emanate.

The senator said, “We cannot really move without the House passing it. I cannot come up with a committee report unless the House passes it.” He added that his committee will conduct parallel hearing with the House.

Lacson said there is a need to simplify the tax system because he believes it is very complicated, adding the he “will fully adopt the proposal of the DoF (Department of Finance).”

Lacson’s counterpart, chairman of the House committee on ways and means earlier said that they will pass their version before year ends in compliance to the call of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her previous SONA last July 27 for the congress to take action on the said measure.

In the senate proposals, the restructured tax system was expected to generate P22 to 24 billion in its first year of implementations; a P45 to 47 billion revenue on the second year; and about P52 to 55 billion for the third year, according to Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves. He hopes that the House would finally act on their version of the proposed restructuring.

Cigarettes and alcohol are currently classified into several tiers. For the cigarettes, they are classified into low-, mid-, high- and medium-priced, based on their 1996 net retail prices.