We have been consistent on excise tax issue - PMFTC

MANILA, Philippines - PMFTC Inc. said the company has been consistent in supporting  a multi-tiered excise tax structure for cigarettes since 2004.

“Even before our business combination with Fortune tobacco in 2010, we have maintained that the current excise tax structure is the best system that strikes a balance among the interests of the government, the tobacco farmers, workers and cigarette manufacturers,” PMFTC government relations manager Raul Academia said

Academia said the position was adopted in 2004 following a series of consultation with lawmakers, members of the Cabinet and the tobacco farmers

He said then House Speaker Jose de Venecia and   then Finance Secretary Isidro Camacho informed Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI) that a single excise tax rate on tobacco products will hurt the marginalized sectors such as tobacco farmers, workers, and the small manufacturers.

“PMPMI heeded the call and we adjusted our position accordingly,” said Academia.

He pointed out that the company’s support to the four-tier excise tax system was formally presented to Congress in 2004 and that they even defended the multi-tiered system in the Supreme Court in 2006.

“To date, we continue to support proposals to retain the current four-tier structure with its provision for moderate and regular tax increases. Hence, it is not correct, and unfair, to say that PMPMI changed its position because of our current status as a market leader as PMFTC,” he said.

“As I recently testified in Congress last Feb. 22, 2012, the business combination between PMPMI and Fortune Tobacco Corp. (FTC), to form PMFTC, was consummated only in 2010 — long after we adopted the position to support the current system in 2004,” Academia said.