THE government’s excise tax collections from sin products fell by nearly a hundred percent in April, amid the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed during the period as well as the implementation of liquor ban of some local government units, as part of measures to address the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Gil Beltran, Department of Finance undersecretary, said in a virtual forum yesterday the total excise tax collections from tobacco and alcohol products for April amounted to only P200 million, down by 99.1 percent from the P18.1 billion recorded in the same month in 2019.
Manufacture of cigarettes and alcohol products was prohibited during the lockdown. Some local government units imposed liquor ban while others prohibited transport of these products.
“Mainly the lockdown was imposed on non-essential items, and cigarettes and alcohol are non-essentials,” Beltran said in the COVID-19 Action Network Forum.
Based on data shared by Beltran, sin tax collections from alcohol and tobacco products in January to April 2020 amounted to P30.6 billion, down by 57.1 percent compared to the P71.2 billion recorded in the same period last year.
Tobacco excise tax revenues amounted to P16.9 billion as of end-April, a decline of 64 percent from P46.9 billion last year.
Total alcohol collections amounted to P13.7 billion, down by 43.6 percent from the P24.3 billion posted in the same period a year ago.
In April alone, excise tax collections from tobacco products amounted to only P0.1 billion, a 98.9 percent decline from the P12.4 billion recorded in the same month in 2019.
As for alcohol, the excise tax revenues amounted to P0.02 billion for the month, a 99.6 percent drop from the P5.7 billion generated in April last year.
From January to April, the volume of cigarette removals is 376.3 million packs, down by 72 percent from the 1.3 billion packs in the first four months of 2019.
Meanwhile, the volume of removals of fermented liquors is at 362.8 million liters, a decline of 49.6 percent from 719.8 million liters in the same period last year.
In the case of distilled spirits, volume of removals was halved, at 71.5 million proof liters, from the 148.2 million proof liters recorded in January to April 2019.
For April alone, the volume of removals of fermented liquors dropped by 99.9 percent to 0.2 million liters, from 174.2 million liters in April 2019. The volume of removals of distilled spirits was also down 95.7 percent to 1.4 million proof liters, from 32.5 million proof liters in the previous year.
For cigarettes, only three million packs were removed, a 99.2 percent decline from 355.5 million packs in April 2019.
Beltran then said based on the May 12, 2020, Development Budget Coordination Committee levels, the projected total incremental revenues for excise taxes from sin products will amount to P13.2 billion in 2020. It will increase to P28.1 billion in 2021, and then to P31.7 billion in 2022, “as the economy will start moving back to its normal growth targets.”
In comparison, the original estimates were at P37.1 billion, P46.9 billion and P53.3 billion, respectively.
“The revised estimates take into account the impact of extended ECQ and GCQ (general community quarantine), liquor ban, and the overall decline in the demand for non-essential, or unhealthy products, like alcohol and tobacco,” Beltran said.
“We also consider the preliminary impact of actual excise collections… from January to April 2020,” he added.
In a separate press statement yesterday, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it was able to intercept 300 cases of smuggled cigarettes, bearing the brands Gundang Baru, Cannon White, Famous, Canyon, Berlin and Fort cigarettes, in Zamboanga City on May 26.
The BOC said the smuggled cigarettes, with an estimated value of P10.13 million, most likely came from Malaysia or Indonesia.
The seized cigarettes were turned-over to BOC-Zamboanga for issuance of warrant of seizure and detention for violation of Executive Order No. 245, titled Amended Rules and Regulations Governing the Exportation and Importation of Leaf Tobacco and Tobacco Products, and Section 117 of Republic Act No. 10863, otherwise known as Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
