煙草在線據《商務問詢者》報道編譯　　財政部堅持把卷煙的消費稅最大化。

　　在一份聲明中，財政部稱，有必要大幅提高稅率，確保實現稅收收入和政府的健康目標。

　　“我們不能維持煙草稅小幅增長的現狀。增稅對于阻止我們的年輕人開始吸煙很重要，”財政部副部長小耶利米亞·保羅在聲明中表示。

　　財政部引用其他國家的研究顯示，在大幅提高煙草稅后，政府收入上升而吸煙者的數量下降。

　　一些卷煙制造商對此觀點有爭議，它們表示增加稅收不會使吸煙者的人數減少，只會促使他們購買走私和廉價的卷煙。

　　財政部表示，但是稅收的增長幅度必須顯著。

　　“其他國家的經驗表明，增加煙草稅會使政府收入增加，同時減少煙草消費，”保羅說。

　　財政部引用的是由美國無煙中心開展的調查。

　　根據這項調查，政府機構稱，在南非，卷煙消費稅每提高10%，稅收收入就會相應地增長約6%，煙草消費也下降。

　　財政部推動煙草稅大幅提高。國會正在考慮把煙草稅提高150-708%的提議。

　　但是全國的煙農對馬拉坎南宮發出的過高的卷煙稅不會影響他們的聲明很失望。

　　在9月19日周三發表的一份聲明中，有2萬名會員的強大的菲律賓煙草種植者協會(PTGA)稱，王室官員似乎對是他們的困境“若不是不擔心，那么就是無知”。

　　菲律賓煙草種植者協會稱，王室官員應該聽取煙農組織在參議院上對財政部提出把煙草消費稅增長高達1000%計劃的切實擔憂，而不是用“通常未經證實的聲明”來消除該組織對該提議的擔憂。“菲律賓煙草種植者協會代表來自邦阿西楠省、拉烏尼翁省、南伊羅戈斯省、北伊羅戈省、阿布拉省、伊莎貝拉省、卡格揚河省、西民都洛省的煙草種植者。”

　　“非常高稅收將不會對煙農產生負面影響說起來很容易，但是這樣的聲明是沒有根據的，”菲律賓煙草種植者協會主席Saturnino Distor說。

　　Distor指的是總統通信發展和戰略規劃辦公室秘書Ricky Carandang最近發表的一個聲明，據引述他的話說“這項法案不會對我們的農民有負面影響。”

　　除了成千上萬的煙草農民外，Distor說，依賴煙草作為主要收入來源的當地政府部門，也會受到財政部稅收提案的沖擊。

　　Distor還對財政部官員發表的即使高稅率煙草種植者也將繼續存活的聲明提出質疑，因為海外市場對當地的煙草的需求在不斷增長。

　　Distor指出，并非所有的農民都種植和銷售出口等級的煙草。

Philippines: DoF Wants to Maximize Tax Take on Tobacco

　　The Department of Finance insists on maximizing the excise tax on cigarettes.

　　In a statement, the DoF said that a substantial increase in the tax rate is needed to ensure the attainment of revenue and health objectives of the government.

　　"We cannot maintain the status quo of marginal increase in tobacco taxes. Tax increase has to be significant to deter our youth from starting to smoke," Finance Undersecretary Jeremias Paul Jr. said in the statement.

　　The DoF cited studies on other countries showing rise in government revenues and decline in the number of smokers following a steep rise in cigarette taxes.

　　It disputed views from some cigarette makers that an increase in taxes would not cut the number of smokers but would just push them to buy smuggled and cheap cigarettes.

　　But the increase in the tax rate must be significant, the DoF said.

　　"Experience of other countries show that increased taxes on tobacco leads to higher government revenues while reducing tobacco consumption," Paul said.

　　The DoF cited surveys conducted by the US-based Tobacco Free Center.

　　Based on the survey, the government agency said every 10-percent increase in excise tax on cigarettes in South Africa has been associated with an approximate 6-percent rise in revenues even with a decline in tobacco consumption.

　　The DoF is pushing for a steep rise in cigarette taxes. Congress is considering proposals of a 150- to 708-percent hike in cigarette taxes.

　　But tobacco farmers around the country have expressed dismay over Malaca?ang's claim that imposing excessively high taxes on cigarettes would not adversely affect them.

　　In a statement issued on Wednesday, the 20,000-strong Philippine Tobacco Growers Association (PTGA) said that Palace officials appear to be "uninformed, if not unconcerned" about their plight.

　　The PTGA said Palace officials should listen to the valid concerns that the farmers' group had raised before the Senate over the plan of the Department of Finance to increase cigarette excise taxes by as much as 1,000 percent, instead of dismissing its fears over the proposal with "general, unsupported statements." PTGA represents tobacco growers from the provinces of Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Abra, Isabela, Cagayan and Occidental Mindoro.

　　"It's easy to say that extremely high taxes will not have a negative effect on us tobacco farmers, but such statements have no basis," said PTGA president Saturnino Distor.

　　Distor was referring to a recent statement by Secretary Ricky Carandang of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, who was quoted as saying that "the bill will not have a negative impact on our farmers."

　　Apart from hundreds of thousands of tobacco farmers, Distor said local government units dependent on tobacco as a major source of revenues would also suffer under the DoF tax proposal.

　　Distor also disputed finance officials' claim that tobacco growers would continue to survive even with the high tax rates owing to the growing demand for local tobacco in the foreign market.

　　Distor pointed out that not all farmers cultivate and sell export-quality tobacco. Enditem