Tax breaks for the tobacco industry will be a blow to public health and revenue

Rather than being given tax breaks, the tobacco industry should be made to shoulder the immense costs that smoking causes our economy.

- PIA RODRIGO

In July, the new House Ways and Means Committee chair of the 20th Congress, Representative Miro Quimbo of the second district of Marikina, filed House Bill (HB) 1316, a bill “strengthening the administration of excise taxes on tobacco and vape products.”

HB 1316 is almost identical to the Anti-Illicit Tobacco Trade Bill of the 19th Congress, supported by health advocates and coauthored by Rep. Miro’s wife, then-Rep. Stella Quimbo, former Ways and Means Chair Rep. Joey Salceda, and Anakalusugan Party-list Rep. Ray Florence Reyes, numbered HB 11286 and passed on third reading earlier this year.

HB 11286 strengthens enforcement to mitigate illicit tobacco trade by establishing a comprehensive track and trace system, raising penalties on illicit tobacco trade, requiring registration of equipment and manufacturing-related items for tobacco and vape products, and creating an inter-agency body for strengthened enforcement. The bill was supported by health advocates, recognizing that illicit cigarettes and vape products are priced dangerously low and therefore much more accessible to the youth. More importantly, health advocates recognized that rather than simply increasing the penalties for illicit trade, HB 11286 increases the likelihood of apprehension by strengthening enforcement.