BAT urges DOF to junk bid for Pall Mall tax review

British American Tobacco Philippines (BAT), which owns the Pall Mall cigarette brand, appealed anew to the Department of Finance (DOF) to junk the requests of its competitors for a review of the department’s July 24 ruling which lowered the excise tax rate on Pall Mall.

BAT said the Department of Finance would be promoting unfair competition if it reverses its July 24 ruling.

“Some of our competitors have written to the DOF requesting a review of its ruling on Pall Mall. We believe that our competitors’ position would certainly promote barriers to entry and unfair competition,” BAT said.

Last July 24, the Finance department affirmed the final excise tax rate of Pall at P6.74 per pack or P19.32 lower than the P26.06 per pack tax rate earlier imposed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

The BIR had slapped the higher tax rate on Pall Mall as the brand was previously sold in duty‑free shops.

In its July 24 ruling, the Finance department reclassified Pall Mall as a mid-price brand which is subject to the lower excise tax of P6.74 per pack.

Four cigarette companies have appealed to the Finance department to review the ruling.

Fortune Tobacco, American-owned Philip Morris, Associated Anglo-American Tobacco Corp.(Anglo-American) and Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Philippines argued that Pall Mall should be paying higher taxes as this was previously sold in duty-free shops.

BAT said that if the Finance department heeds the request of the four companies, it would no longer be able to compete in the Philippine cigarette market.