The Bureau of Internal Revenue collected P83 billion worth of excise tax from cigarettes in the first seven months, up 31 percent from the P63 billion in the same period last year.
An analysis done by the Department of Finance based on data from the BIR show Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Co. Inc. remained the top cigarette manufacturer with excise tax payments of P42.04 billion from Jan.1 to July 31, up 6.9 percent from P39.3 billion during the same period last year.
DOF Assistant Secretary Ma. Teresa Habitan said in her report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III despite Japan Tobacco International (Philippines) Inc. registering the highest year-on-year excise tax increase of 73.1 percent for the same period, it remained at the second spot in terms of market share with P38.8 billion in excise taxes paid.
JTI paid P22.4 billion in excise taxes from January to July of 2020, which means JTI’s tax payments grew P16.4 billion in the same period this year.
“Based on the actual volume as of July 2021, cigarette excise tax collections reached P82.97 billion or a 31-percent increase than last year’s collections of P63.3 billion,” Habitan said during a recent DOF executive committee meeting.