Metro Manila, Philippines – A House panel has approved a bill seeking to abolish the long-standing travel tax on Monday, March 9.
The committee on ways and means approved the tax provisions of the unnumbered substitute bill from the consolidated proposals from House Majority leader Sandro Marcos and a number of lawmakers.
The bill has been cleared by two panels, after it passed by the committee on tourism in February.
The committee on appropriations will take up the measure next.
The proposal stated that the budget for government programs funded by travel tax collections should come from the annual General Appropriations Act.
These include the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, the Commission on Higher Education and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
“Narinig na natin sa mga ahensya ang mga programang pinopondohan ng Travel Tax – para sa turismo, edukasyon at kultura. Kinikilala natin na importante ang lahat ng ito – pero hindi ito dapat magpatuloy at the expense and sacrifice of our Filipino travelers na karamihan ay middle class at kabataan,” committee chairperson Miro Quimbo said.
[Translation: We have heard about the programs funded by the travel tax across different agencies for tourism, education, and culture. We recognize that all of these are important, but they should not continue at the expense and sacrifice of our Filipino travelers, most of whom belong to the middle class and the youth.]
“The survival of these programs should not be dependent on the number of travelers. They are far too important to be dependent on unpredictable numbers,” he added.
Should the bill become law, it would repeal Presidential Decree 1183 and related provisions of the Tourism Act of 2009, which imposed the levy at ₱1,620 for economy class passengers and ₱2,700 for first class.
