Manila, March 11 -- A proposal by Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao to increase the excise tax on alcohol products will raise additional revenues of almost PHP237 billion over a five-year period and at the same time help reduce excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks or binge drinking that is linked to vehicular crash accidents, domestic abuse and other crimes.
Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said in a statement on Monday that like the proposed hike in cigarette taxes, increasing the excise tax levied on alcohol products will help close the PHP40-billion funding gap in the universal health care (UHC) program.
Pacquiao's Senate Bill (SB) No. 2197 will raise around PHP32.3 billion in the first year of its implementation in 2019, PHP40 b...