THREE lawmakers on Monday backed a measure seeking to impose a 10- to 30-percent excise tax on cosmetic products and services such as liposuction, facelifts and noselifts.
Reps. Rodolfo Albano III of Isabela, Raneo Abu of Batangas, and Winston Castelo of Quezon City supported the proposal of Rep. Rodel Batocabe, president of the Party-List Coalition, to impose a vanity tax instead of increasing the tax on petroleum products that he said would only hurt the poor.
“I support the aesthetic tax and other taxes like the tax on sweetened beverages because these products are usually used or consumed by those who are in the higher-income earners,” Abu said in support of Batocabe’s proposal.
Batocabe says people who want to be “attractive, good-looking and gorgeous” should pay for the cost.
Abu says an excise tax on fuel will affect all sectors and will have a ripple effect on products and services that will mostly affect the low-income earners and the poor.
“Public transportation and goods will be hit the most,” he said.
Albano said the proposal to increase the tax on gasoline and imposing a 6-pesos-per-liter levy on diesel, kerosene, cooking gas and bunker fuel should no longer be entertained as it would burden the poor.
“We should push for the vanity tax because that is what we call tax on luxury,” Albano said.
Castelo said ordinary people and hardworking employees should not be paying higher taxes.
“Instead, we should take a second look at the people engaging in vanity,” Castelo said.
Batocabe said people should pay for the cost of being physically beautiful as an alternative to imposing more taxes on petroleum products to generate P180 billion a year.
House leaders earlier said 180 billion a year was more than enough to offset the P130 billion projected to be incurred from the proposed reduction in individual income tax rates.
The government is seeking to increase the excise tax on gasoline to P10 from P4.35 per liter.
