The genuine measure to promote the health and welfare of the people cannot be measured on the eagerness of the

government to raise taxes on tobacco. It is in this standard that we should measure how the government genuinely serves the health interests of the people, and it is a standard where the government fails miserably and which failure cannot be masked by the sin tax bill. While the government claims it desires the increase of revenues for healthcare, it refuses to sufficiently increase the budget for public health, notwithstanding the fact that it lavishly funds debt-servicing and corruption-prone programs in the military and other departments. By raising the prices of cigarettes and liquor high enough, people will stop smoking and drinking. False. Raising prices will not make smokers and drinkers quit. While most drinking is a vice, smoking is not. It is already an addiction. Although many smokers want to quit, they cannot. Their bodies crave for the nicotine. So like a drug addict, they will go to all sorts of ways to get money for a nicotine fix. The truth is that through the years, taxing cigarettes and liquor has always been the easiest way for a government to get a fiscal high. Here is the real fiscal shock. That is when revenue from cigarettes, after initially increasing, gradually decreases so that government would get less than what it was getting before the tax rates were increased. Why? Because of smuggling. That has been the experience of other countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia that also raised cigarette taxes too much. Even New York, which is supposed to have the best police force in the world, was no match for the smugglers. What more of the Philippines with its many islets and isolated beaches, perfect landing points for smugglers The equation is simple: When cigarette prices are too high in any given place, smugglers come in with their lower-priced cigarettes because they do not have to pay any taxes. And smokers, instead of quitting, will just buy the cheaper smuggled cigarettes that the whole Philippine government cannot stop from coming in. Result: The cigarette companies would be able to sell less of the expensive, tax-paid local cigarettes and therefore the government would collect less revenue. It would be the foreign cigarette factories and the smugglers that would benefit from the high taxes we would impose. Worse, it may lead to the extinction of the local cigarette and tobacco farming industries, so that the government, instead of getting a little, eventually gets nothing.

The biggest reform to the Philippine excise tax system in close to two decades was ratified when The Six Tax Bill was signed into law by President Aquino last December 20, 2012. When implemented, the provision of the law will be felt not just by the big companies, but also by small businesses, street vendors and every man and woman on the street. The Philippines has the cheapest prices for wholesale and retail of alcohol and tobacco products in the world. The higher taxation on these commodities is expected to generate PhP34 billion in the first year alone. The law takes effect on January 1, 2013.

No to Smoking The smoking ban under RA 9211 (Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003) is still facing challenges in local implementation particularly in public smoking and in the sale of cigarettes to minors. Smoking has become a public health issue since it has been proven that nicotine is dangerous to your health. However, the daily violations of local anti-smoking ordinances and the blatant disregard of the warning printed on every cigarette pack is a testament to the stubbornness of human beings. And we have to ask yet again: Could legislation really change personal behavior? In the Presidents speech during the signing ceremony for RA 9334, he called the Sin Tax law an early Christmas gift to millions of Filipinos that he predicts would finally be discouraged from smoking and drinking because it would already be too expensive to indulge in. The question is this: Will the higher cost of cigarettes and alcoholic drinks really keep people from smoking until their lungs are black and drinking until their livers are turned to mush? Perhaps, for the poorest of the poor, spare change would not be adequate to cover for their habits anymore. But there could still be ways to provide the supply especially when the need is dire. Is the government prepared to address the possible alternative and illegal activities that might arise in order to fulfill public demand? Health is Wealth The very public results of studies linking smoking to chronic respiratory disease, cancer, and heart disease had never fazed the Filipino smoker, who insists on fortifying those neural pathways in the brain that just gives the urge and need to smoke even stronger. The anti-smoking campaign of the DOH seems to not have that much impact despite the moderate local successes of anti-smoking ordinances. The medical community, perhaps out of sheer frustration, supports the bill fully in the hope that economics would succeed where evidence-based medical practice had failed miserably. The

promise of funding for the governments universal health care program further boosted the support from the medical community and the non-smoking public as well. In one speech, the President seems very proud of having overcome the strong opposition that the bill faced during the lobbying. The question is this: Will the President stop smoking as well not just to set an example to his countrymen, but also to follow the advice of his well-meaning physicians? The President does not smoke in public anymore. Good for him. Hed better stop smoking in private and in the company of friends, too. That would be best for his health, and very good for the country. His efforts at being a good example seem to be working its way slowly but surely and he must take this opportunity to show that he truly means what he says. More Money for Health Care and Livelihood There were two main arguments in support of the Sin Tax Bill. The first one was its great potential to increase tax collections that would in turn be intended for spending on agricultural and national health programs. The second argument mainly involves better health via decrease in the prevalence of smoking and drinking/alcoholism. The counterarguments presented by those who oppose the bill, argue albeit reasonably, on the possibilities that the bill would only encourage smuggling and displace tobacco farmers and distillery workers who would have no immediate alternative. There is much reason for workers in the nicotine and alcohol industry to fret. The government has presented no concrete plans on what to do for these sectors once the law is passed. Amidst all the controversies, what with senators resigning from committee posts and accused of secret dealings with tobacco companies, and proposals passed here in there that detail varying revenues, the bill was eventually passed by the countrys legislative body. The question is this: Will tobacco livelihood and health care improve in the next few years with the funds generated? Still, the optimistic view is that when things get more stable, new industries and new jobs will emerge. Benefits The revenues of the Sin Tax, which is expected to increase every year from 2013, are intended as funding for health care for the poor as well as in support of livelihood programs for tobacco farmers who are facing uncertainty once the law takes into effect. In excess of the relevant deductions, 80% of the balance from the revenues is intended to support the expansion of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (Phil Health) coverage and to the governments future health awareness campaigns. The 20% is earmarked for the grassroots programs of the Department of Health on

health enhancement and medical assistance. A percentage of the collections from the incremental revenues will be divided for use by provinces where tobacco is farmed. Perhaps most of the doubt and uncertainty that surrounds this law is related to its implementation. No matter how promising the reforms on excise tax rates seem it is only with strict implementation of the provisions of the law that its projected revenues, and the benefits from the programs the revenues will be funding, will be realized. The imposition of sin taxes in other countries is known to trigger rampant black market activities as well as smuggling. The question is this: Can the government enforce a full turnaround of individual human behavior by increasing the cost of sinful commodities, and would be a healthier society with increasing prohibitions? In the Philippines, we have yet to see what could emerge and whether or not the Sin Tax could really impact on the anti-smoking campaign and the lives of the Filipinos.

Paano maaabot ang target na 60 billion pesos na magmumula sa sin tax bill na sinasabing pantulong sa mga nagkakasakit, Kung itataas ang presyo ng sigarilyo at ang magsisigarilyo na lang ay ang may kaya sa buhay? Sabihin na natin na kahalati ng nagsisigarilyo ang mababawas na sinasabi rin ng may panukala ng batas na mas mabuting mataas ang halaga ng sigarilyo upang mabawasan ang nagsisigarilyo. Kalahati na lang ang ng nagsisigarilyo ang mawala, Paano pa maaabot ang target na 60 billion na magmumula sa Tax. Papaano kung 75 percent ng nagsisigarilyo ang mawala? Paano na ang mga nagtatrabaho sa mga pagawaan ng sigarilyo? Paano na ang nagtatanim ng tabako? Paano pa maaabot ang 60 billion target.. At mabuti na rin sanang mangyari ito, para naman makita ng mga tao na hindi lamang sa sigarilyo nakukuha ang sakit na kanser sa baga. Nariyan ang mga usok ng mga sasakyan, mga amoy ng kemikal, mabubulok na imburnal at iba pa, na sa sigarilyo lamang binibintang..Ilan na sa mga kasamahan ko ang namatay sa kanser sa baga..hindi nagsisigarilyo, mga athletic pa sila..Tennis, Basketball at nageexercise pa, namatay cancer sa baga. Sabi ng mga Doctor nakuha sa second hand smoke daw..mali..inamin ng may cancer sa chemical na naamoy niya nakuha.. Hindi naman lahat ng sinasabi ng mga Doctor dapat paniwalaan. Bakit ang gamot hindi ba may masamang epekto rin sa katawan? Bigay ng bigay ang doctor ng gamot sa huli lumalala pa ang sakit ng tao. Kasabihan pa nga..Pag sinunod mo ang Doctor, pwedeng mawala ang sakit mo, pero humanda ka sa matinding side effect ng gamot na ininom mo.

Philippine Tobacco Growers Association (PTGA) members disagreed to this because they are imposing that it would bankrupt their business. Sin taxes might trigger rampant Smuggling and black markets, especially when they create large price differences in neighboring jurisdictions.

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