Excise taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) from cigarette products jumped by 31 percent to P83 billion in the first seven months of the year from P63 billion a year ago, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).
The DOF said in a statement yesterday Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Co. Inc. (PMFTC) remained the top cigarette manufacturer with excise tax payments amounting to P42.04 billion from January to July, 6.9 percent more than the P39.3 billion paid during the same period last year.
Ma. Teresa Habitan, DOF assistant secretary, said Japan Tobacco International (Philippines) Inc. (JTI), which remained at the second spot in terms of market share, registered the highest year-on-year excise tax increase of 73.1 percent for the same period, to P38.8 billion in excise taxes paid from P22.4 billion a year ago.
The DOF said the remaining P2.13 billion of the total P82.97 billion in excise tax collections for the January to July 2021 period was paid by other cigarette manufacturers, such as the Associated Anglo American Tobacco Corp. and Kenstand Philippines Inc.
Habitan said based on tax data, PMFTC’s market share of 50.7 percent remained higher than JTI’s share of 46.8 percent in the seven-month period.
“However, it should be noted that JTI’s share for (this) period increased by 11.4 percentage points when compared to last year. This was due to JTI’s increased volume of 55.8 percent year-on-year while PMFTC’s reported volume declined by 3.8 percent,” Habitan said.
Based on the tax collections, JTI’s volume of removals was 498 million packs and 777 million packs for the first seven months of 2020 and 2021, respectively.
“This is equivalent to an increase of 278 million packs for the first seven months of the year,” Habitan said.
Of the P16.4 billion increase in taxes collected from JTI, she said P3.9 billion was the result of the increase in the tax rate while P12.5 billion was because of the increase in volume.
The tax rate on JTI’s tobacco products increased by 11.1 percent or P5 per pack, while volume increased by 55.8 percent or 278 million packs.
For PMFTC, the DOF said volume of removals for the first seven months of 2020 and of 2021 was 874 million packs and 841 million packs, respectively.
Of the P2.7 billion increase in the tax collections from PMFTC, it said P4.2 billion was because of the increase in the tax rate, while there was a revenue loss of P1.5 billion from the decline in volume.
The tax rate for PMFTC’s products also increased by P5 per pack, while its volume declined by 3.8 percent or 33 million packs, Habitan said.
Habitan said the total combined volume of JTI and PMFTC as of July 2021 increased by 245 million packs or by 17.9 percent when compared during the same period last year, all of which came from JTI.
