The Congress-initiated coal tax hike included in the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Act is expected to provide a substantial revenue boost during the first year of implementation, a Cabinet official said. “The total potential revenue from coal would be P2 billion,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd told reporters. The government currently collects just P300 million in excise taxes from coal, an amount Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua described as “small”. The P10 coal excise tax rate has remained unchanged since 1988 and the local industry has been exempted from paying since 1976. Coal is currently taxed at P10 per metric ton so it is actually only adjustment of a tax already existing,” he said.

Source: Manila Times December 18, 2017 16:30 UTC