Government eyes tax on salty food  

MANILA, Philippines — The economic team of the Marcos administration is planning to slap taxes on salty food to generate additional revenues amid a tight fiscal space and subsequently help solve health problems in the country.

During the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum, Budget Secretary and economic team member Amenah Pangandaman said the Department of Finance (DOF) has added the tax on salty food as part of its revenue measures over the medium-term.

This is on top of the earlier proposal of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno for an expanded levy on sweetened beverages.

“For sweet and salty food and beverage, it was supposed to kick in by 2025, but what they did is they will advance it in 2024,” Pangandaman said.

Diokno floated the proposal of new tax measures last April, but at the time, the tax on salty food had yet to be included.

“For the (salty food), they are still studying it. But Secretary Ben and the DOF team seem very positive on the passage of the said revenue measure,” Pangandaman said.

Diokno has yet to respond to questions on the projected revenues of the tax on salty food. But in a Viber message, Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Zeno Abenoja said the measure is now being studied together with sweetened beverages.

“Generally unhealthy food or those that exceed some threshold for salt and sugar fats as recommended by health experts,” Abenoja said.

Pangandaman noted that the tax on salty food is like the sin taxes that have corresponding health reasons for implementation.

“You want people to lessen their consumption because of the many diseases right now,” she said.

“If diseases are increasing, the requirement from the government to take care of the population also increases. So I think it just makes sense. You increase the revenues and at the same time, you help the population become healthier,” she said.

On the other hand, the tax on sweetened beverages is not new as the Philippines in 2018 began slapping a P6 per liter tax on sweetened beverages as part of efforts to curb obesity in the country.

Now, the government wants to “increase it.”

DOF data shows that the government can generate P53.7 billion from an expanded levy on sweetened beverages during the first year of implementation by 2025.

This could increase to P67 billion by 2026 and further expand to P80.6 billion and P96.5 billion by 2027 and 2028. In total, anticipated revenues from the measure could reach P297.8 billion over a four-year period.

The tax reform package of the then Duterte administration included a P6 per liter tax on sweetened beverages made with caloric or non-caloric sweeteners.

It also included a P12 per liter tax on those made with high-fructose corn syrup. The two-tiered levy resulted in at least 13 percent to as much as 26 percent increase in the cost of beverages.