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Should we start hoarding softdrinks now?
“The measure that could raise prices of softdrinks by PHP10 per liter is closer to becoming a law after the House Committee on Ways and Means approved on Tuesday the bill imposing taxes on sugar sweetened drinks,” reports Xianne Arcangel on GMA News Online.
Despite the opposition of the Beverage Industry Association of the Philippines (BIAP), the proposed law hurdled the committee headed by Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo.
The report noted: “Under the measure, a PHP10 excise tax will be imposed on soft drinks, soda drinks, fruit drinks, and punch, sports drinks, sweetened tea, coffee drinks, energy drinks, and all non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages.”
The report explained that “the additional tax, which will be imposed on top of the 12 percent value-added tax for consumer goods, will be increased by 4 percent each year starting Jan 1, 2017 if it is passed next year.”
The bill doesn’t cover “100 percent natural fruit juices, 100 percent natural vegetable juices, yogurt and fruit-flavored yogurt beverages, meal replacement beverages, weight loss products, and all milk products.”
For its part, BIAP said in its position paper: “Wealthy Filipinos who can afford pure beverages will be spared from the tax on sweetened beverages. In addition, crafted drinks such as those sold in coffee or tea shops, which are similarly sweetened or have sugar, will not be taxed a single centavo.”
Photo: Stock
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