The Department of Finance and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) are "happy" with the final version of the sin tax bill even if the measure fell short of the Aquino administration's revenue target of P60 billion, BIR chief Kim Jacinto-Henares said Tuesday.
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The bill is expected to be ratified by Congress later Tuesday.
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In an interview at the sidelines of the signing of the bicameral conference report on the sin tax bill, Henares said the department and the bureau were able to institute the reforms they wanted through the measure.
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She said this included "the removal of annexes, the removal of the prize freeze classification, and the indexation.
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"We got all three... So, for us those are the structural reforms that we were really pushing for. ?We're happy in that sense," she added.
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"Of course, when we went in we were targeting P60 billion... It went down... but that is part of the legislative [process] ? you cannot get everything that you go in for," she said.
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In a compromise, the Senate and House of Representatives agreed to excise tax collections of ?P33.96 billion for 2013, P42.82 billion for 2014, P50.63 billion for 2015, P56.86 billion for 2016, and P64.18 billion for 2017, or P248.49 billion in five years.?
"Actually, yung amount siguro hindi kami dapat ang tanungin kasi dapat health [sector] yun. ?When we went [for the] P60 billion [it was] because... of the health [sector]," she said.
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"So, if the Department of Health is happy with it, then we're fine... For us the reform was the first three that we mentioned and we got it so we're happy in that sense," she added.
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Bill sponsor Sen. Franklin Drilon said 80 percent of the remaining balance of the additional revenue ? after deducting the allocations under Republic Act 7171 and Republic Act 8240 ? will be allocated for universal healthcare under the National Health Insurance Program, for attaining the Millennium Development Goals, and for health awareness campaign.?
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The 20-percent balance will be allocated for medical assistance and health enhancement facilities program nationwide based on political and district subdivisions. The Health Department will set the yearly needs for these allocations.
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Drilon said 69 percent of the revenue allotments would come from the excise tax on tobacco products and 31 percent from alcoholic beverages, instead of the 60-40 earlier proposed by the Senate or the 87-13 by the House. ? VS, GMA News
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