The Manila Times

Expert sees no need to cut fuel taxes

EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ

THERE is no need to suspend the value-added tax (VAT) and excise to cut fuel and electricity cost, a top energy official said.

In a press briefing, Energy Undersecretary for Special Concerns Benito Ranque presented a formula that can trim the cost of fuel and electricity, without suspending the excise tax and VAT collected from its sale and consumption.

Ranque explained that suspending VAT and excise tax on fuel and electricity is no longer feasible as the process requires a tedious congressional deliberation, aside from affecting government efforts to ease the adverse effects of pandemic.

Under his formula, Ranque said that the government may consider expanding the mechanics of the lifeline subsidy — P800 monthly subsidy for households consuming 100 kilowatts per month for the first 100 days in office of Presidentelect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.

However, Ranque stressed that it is still imperative for the next administration to come up with a long-term program that would cut the cost of electricity by as much as 50 percent in the next five to six years.

To do this, the Energy official said that the government has to empower small electric cooperatives.

“These electric cooperatives should be equipped with their own power plant, preferably renewable energy facilities. By doing so, we get to spare them from buying expensive electricity from the power generators and sell to their consumers,” Ranque said.

He also toyed with the idea of asking “compassion”from the big power generating companies to“relax”on its pricing since they have long been earning from their facility.

“We’ll ask energy companies, which have been operating coal-fired power plants, for a long time to relax their rates. Anyway, they already recovered their investments from those aging facilities. Out of compassion and corporate social responsibility, I have this feeling they’d consider it,” said Ranque, who was earlier recommended by several business groups to be appointed as the Energy secretary under the Marcos administration.

As for the fuels, Ranque said that prices of petroleum products may immediately be reduced by P3.26 per liter for gasoline and P1.40 per liter for diesel, provided the 19th Congress enacts a legislative measure to suspend the Biofuels Act of 2006, mandating the use of additives “which adds up an extra cost that is being passed on to the consumers.”

Business Times

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2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281865827095561

The Manila Times