Inclusion and exclusion in TRAIN
There are two flavors of inclusion: one is reduced income inequality; the other is reduced poverty incidence. They are not the same; nor does one necessarily follow the other. So they require different policy responses.
Why Pacquiao deserves kudos
Belated kudos to Sen. Manny Pacquiao, the first senator to figuratively give the finger to the cigarette/tobacco lobby. A week or so ago, he introduced “An Act Raising the Excise Tax on Tobacco Products and Amending for the Purpose Pertinent Sections of the National Internal Revenue Code, as Amended.”
More flawed than the House TRAIN
The Senate not only did not stand up to the powerful lobbies, it also became their doormat.
Time is of the essence
Dr. Dans joins over 60 medical organizations in the Philippines as well as other civil society groups which have gotten together to petition President Duterte to make sure that TRAIN includes sin taxes.
Millions of Filipino lives at stake
Eighty organizations representing the health sector and civil society are petitioning the President and the Senate to use the comprehensive tax reform package to address two of our most important health problems: tobacco use and malnutrition.
How do we budget for free college tuition?
By making tuition free, this law virtually removes the ability of the educational institutions to earn any tuition income from students. Now, this source of flexibility disappears with the abolition of tuition income. The institutions will now be totally exposed to government budgetary support.
The tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and malnutrition
The proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages has triggered a policy debate. The proposal aims to reduce the consumption of these unhealthy beverages and to nudge individuals into consuming healthier ones. We need to assess whether the current proposal is the best response in addressing our nutrition problems.
Magno quoted on sugar tax
UPSE faculty Cielo Magno's views on the proposed tax on sugary drinks were extensively covered in an ABS-CBN News Online article.
The tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and malnutrition
The proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages has triggered a policy debate. The proposal aims to reduce the consumption of these unhealthy beverages and to nudge individuals into consuming healthier ones. We need to assess whether the current proposal is the best response in addressing our nutrition problems.
Breaking down the tax reform package
Without even looking at the details, the reader can see that the bottom 60 percent of income earners are negatively impacted by the package (the figures are in italics, and are parenthesized) as well as the top 0.1 percent. Those are the DOF estimates.
An anti-poor tax package
So the question is: How can a 95-5 split of the direct benefits of the TsT in any way represent a “the poor will benefit the most” situation, between the “middle” and “low” income groups? Ask any child: If candies are split 19 and 1 between two children, is that fair? Is it most beneficial...
Just take it, it’s good for you
Not all who take sugar-sweetened beverages will indulge to excess. And not even all who over-indulge will become obese or diabetic. Yet, the proposal would penalise all these people in the same way. I hate to say it: just like the war on drugs.
