The Philippine House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means approved on Tuesday, a bill seeking to impose excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages like soda and energy drinks. The House Bill 3365 authored by Nueva Ecija Representative Estrellita Suansing, is now up for 2nd reading before the plenary.
Should the law be enacted, the government will charge P10.00 excise tax for every liter of sugary drinkds and a mandatory increase of 4% every year shall also be imposed effective on January 1, 2017.
Based upon the bill, the affected drinks includes carbonated drinks (more commonly called soft drinks), fruit shakes, ades, sports and energy drinks, sweetened tea, coffee, and all ready-to-drink non-alcoholic beverages in powder form.
The only drinks that were excluded from the P10.00 excise tax were all-natural fruit and vegetable juices, yogurt beverages, meal replacement drinks, and all milk products are excluded.
The bill also revealed the revenue-generating measures of the proposed soft drinks bill. According to the author of the bill, a total fo 50% of revenue collected will go to the national treasury, while the other half will be distributed to the following agencies to fund their health-promotion projects:
Department of the Interior and Local Government (23%)
Department of Education (10%)
Department of Health (10%)
Bureau of Internal Revenue (2%)
Food and Nutrition Research Institute (2%)
Food and Drug Administration (3%)