Bicol solon wants to put additional taxes on car owners

Buying a car in the not-so-distant future may become more expensive if one lawmaker gets his way.

Albay 2^nd district representative and former governor, Joey Salceda said recently that he would rather put additional levies on car owners than impose more taxes on junk food. This is after the House Ways and Means – in which he is the committee chairman – discussed other options where the government can generate revenue, especially when the tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio went down to 12% from the previous 14%.

“I don’t think, personally, taxing food is the last thing to do. So I’d rather tax the cars,” said Salceda during an interview with CNN Philippines’ The Source. According to Salceda, “taxing the rich” is better, considering that this 10% of the population owns approximately 60% of all cars in the country.

_{Congressman Joey Salceda}

Salceda also added that Republic Act 8794, which requires the collection of Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC), has not been updated for almost 20 years and is already outdated. Every year, he says, the government only generates PHP 179 billion from the MVUC, which is less than the dysfunctional impact on the country’s economy worth PHP 1.5 trillion, and economic cost currently valued at PHP 1.3 trillion.

With regard to the proposed additional taxes on car owners, the former Albay governor said that “We are penalizing you not for owning it [car], we are penalizing you for using the roads and for causing traffic.”

In an earlier statement, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said that the revenue that will be generated from the early implementation of additional taxes on sweetened drinks and other junk food has increased the 2024 proposed budget to PHP 5.768 trillion.

With the additional taxes on vehicle ownership looming and fuel prices still relatively high, would you be swapping your car for an alternative (and cheaper) mode of transportation?