Republic Act 10351, or the Sin Tax Reform Law, is primarily a health measure with revenue implications, but more fundamentally, it is a good governance measure. The Sin Tax Law helps finance the Universal Health Care program of the government, simplified the current excise tax system on alcohol and tobacco products and fixed long standing structural weaknesses, and addresses public health issues relating to alcohol and tobacco consumption.
Recently, the Department of Finance (DOF) urges Congress to let sin tax law 'run its course'. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has encourage the congressional oversight committee on the Sin Tax Reform Act to start reviewing the revenue and health impact of the tax rates mandated under this law to determine what measures should be undertaken by the Legislature once the statute matures in 2017. He said that the the Sin Tax Reform Act is a very good law and it should be fully implemented and allowed to run its course.
Besides, RA 10351 mandates that the current two-tiered tax rate merge into a unitary tax rate of P30 per cigarette pack for all brands starting Jan. 1, 2017, and the rate indexed to inflation by increasing it to 4 percent annually.
Dominguez also added that DOF expects “this review to occur” as mandated by law and for it to “be done well to inform [us] what we should be doing in the future.”
