E-VAT implementation will cause skyrocketing prices this Christmas season
Date Posted: 10.17.2005
October 17, 2005
E-VAT IMPLEMENTATION WILL CAUSE SKYROCKETING PRICES THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON
A bleak Christmas awaits Filipinos if the Supreme Court finally lifts its temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) law tomorrow, October 18, according to independent think-tank IBON.
The law, whose implementation has been delayed since July by the TRO, will remove VAT exemptions on the oil and power sectors and increase the prices of basic commodities and services. These price hikes would come on top of the seasonal increases in basic goods that usually occur during the holiday season.
It should be noted that prices have been rising aside from the incessant oil price hikes. The average inflation rate for the first eight months of the year has already reached 8%, higher than the 6% recorded for full-year 2004. Monthly inflation rates since the fourth quarter of 2004 are already among the highest in the past decade.
An official of the independent petroleum dealers association himself admitted that the implementation of the EVAT would “definitely” push oil prices to P40 per liter. As of Oct. 5, the prices of unleaded gasoline averaged P33.70 to P35.50 per liter while diesel prices ranged from P30.79 to P32.85 per liter.
The hike due to EVAT would be on top of the near-weekly rounds of oil price increases. Just this weekend, there was another round of hikes in unleaded gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Oil price hikes since the start of the year have increased gasoline prices by P7 per liter and LPG by P77 per cylinder.
Clearly the implementation of the IMF-imposed EVAT would hurt Filipino consumers. IBON maintains that a sound debt management policy rather than new taxes is still a more logical step in addressing the country’s fiscal problems. (end)