Special purpose taxesMANILA, Philippines — As if the burden of regular taxes on the middle class is not enough, there are also numerous special taxes that overtax the taxpayers. The most visible is the travel tax, a special tax imposed on all Filipinos and long-term foreign residents when they leave the country. Why CHED gets anything from the tourism tax is unexplainable, a product of chop suey policymaking. The problem is, like the toilets of PTA before, not all the supposedly tourist rest areas are really in tourist travel routes. The other notorious special tax is what they call the road users tax.

Source: Philippine Star January 29, 2026 16:47 UTC