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A Trojan horse from Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco BLURBAL THRUSTS Louie Logarta 09/30/2010

Thursday, September 30, 2010

A Trojan horse from Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco

BLURBAL THRUSTS
Louie Logarta
09/30/2010
Strange bedfellows, these two. The Philippine government and giant tobacco companies Philip Morris and Fortune Tobacco Corp. (PM-FTC) now find themselves allied with each other, on the same side, to push adoption of a system that promises to address leakages in the collection of excise taxes that annually amount to several billions.
It is a marriage of convenience, if you may, that is ultimately headed for the rocks because the two are natural enemies. On one hand you have the two biggest tobacco manufacturers in the country that collectively control some 90 percent of the market, while on the other there is the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which does nothing but run after them to collect the correct taxes.
The informal arrangement has spawned for BIR Commissioner Kim Henares a lot of criticism for she has signified her interest in discussing the PM-FTC proposal to install a monitoring and control system which purports to increase the yearly tax take of the government by a huge amount..... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100930com5.html

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