Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Philippines lauded the Department of Finance’ (DOF) initiative to ban online sale of sin products. The move to ban online sales of liquors and cigarettes was primarily to prevent proliferation of counterfeit items.

 

“While the ban is primarily a bid to prevent smuggling and counterfeiting, this is a win for the health side. We commend the DOF for their initiative as this will greatly help to curb the use of these harmful products,” said ASH Executive Director and Pulmonologist, Dr. Maricar B. Limpin.

 

“We laud the DOF for recognizing the threats of alcohol, tobacco products pose to the health of the Filipinos and for taking swift action to help counter these health risks especially during this time of the pandemic,” she added.

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The DOF announcement came after Finance Secretary Carlos Domínguez was told that a certain online retail platform was offering tobacco at a reduced price. This is despite the given existing levies on tobacco, HTPs, and e-cigarettes, as well as higher taxes on alcohol and tobacco imposed this year.

 

Last January, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic 11467, which further expanded excise taxes on alcohol, HTPs and e-cigarettes.

 

The DOF projected approximately P22.2 Billion would be generated in incremental revenue which would be used to help augment funding for the Universal Healthcare (UHC) Law, however latest data shows that the collection of excise taxes on sin goods continued to decline in May, pulling down also the year-to-date tax take.