Friday, August 10, 2007 Bacolod lawmaker opposes common carriers' tax
BACOLOD City Representative Monico Puentevella on Thursday assured the local transport sector that imposition of the common carriers' tax will be put on hold with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directing the Department of Finance (DOF) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to review the policy covering public utility vehicles.
Clamor from major transport groups nationwide are mounting against the increased rate, pegged at about 2,600 percent, which Puentevella brought before the attention of the Legislative-Executive Development and Advisory Council (Ledac) meeting presided over by the President early this week in Malacañang.
Puentevella, who chairs the House committee on transportation and senior vice chairman of the telecommunications cmmittee, lamented at the Ledac meeting attended by senators, congressmen and Cabinet members, that the DOF and the BIR failed to consult the industry players before coming up with the scheme, implementation of which was supposed to take off this month.
Following the discussion on the PUV tax, Arroyo ordered the BIR and finance agency heads to review the policy. "We should be grateful that the President heeded our call," he said.
Once the common carriers' tax is implemented, operators and drivers will have to carry the burden of paying P7,000 annually, from the previous P500 a year rate, per jeepney unit for their tax charge, said Jesse Ortega, president of the 8,000-strong United Drivers-Operators Center (Undoc).
From P400 a year, each taxi unit will have to pay P1,000, while the rate for a regular bus or mini-bus is between P22,000 or P23,000 annually from P800.
It's double even triple whammy for the transport groups, which are already burdened by the 400 percent hike in road users' tax. The transport sector cannot afford to meet these additional burdens. That's why we are happy that Congressman Monico, as chairman of the transport committee, has echoed this problem before the Ledac, Ortega said.
“Such increase is additional headache to us,” the Undoc executive said, adding that those who will be hit hard by this 2,600 percent increase are the end-users or commuters as they will have to face another round of fare hike.
He cited that in anticipation of the policy's implementation, drivers' groups have already lodged a petition before the Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) of a PI0 fare rate for the first five kilometers.
The 3,000-member Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Association (Febacda), headed by Both Katalbas, also shared Ortega's sentiments.
Febacda, which is aligned with the party-list or United Transport Alliance (Utak), is filing an injunction before the group convenes in a national gathering during the third week of August.
Piston, another drivers' alliance, will hold a consultative assembly come Aug. 16 to 17 to tackle similar concerns and outline specific actions, including a possible transport strike nationwide.
