The Eastern Visayas has lost a total of P183.36 million since 2018 due to the illegal trade in smuggled cigarettes in the region, according to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
BIR-Eastern Visayas Director Edith Yap said the amount represents unpaid excise taxes from smuggled cigarettes found during raids in the past six years.
“There is a proliferation of illegal cigarette trade. Their products are cheaper since they don’t pay taxes. This activity hurts the tobacco industry,” Yap said during a media interview.
Operatives from the Philippine National Police–Criminal Investigation and Detection Group raided warehouses with illegal cigarettes based on mission orders issued by the tax bureau.
The country applies an excise tax rate of P60 per pack of 20 cigarettes.
Smuggled cigarettes are cheap since traders do not pay taxes. These products are patronized by smokers, according to Yap.
The National Tobacco Administration (NTA) earlier said that Eastern Visayas provinces were becoming hotspots for the trade of smuggled cigarettes in the central Philippines this year.
In the Visayas region, Biliran province has the highest illicit trade incidence with 6 percent, followed by Southern Leyte with 3.7 percent as of the second quarter of the year. The two provinces had a mere 1 percent incidence in 2022.
The NTA reported that smuggled and non-tax paid cigarettes are being sold openly in stores and other public areas all over the Philippines and priced between P3 and P4 per stick compared to the P8.55 per stick of legitimate and tax-paid cigarette brands.
The rampant tobacco smuggling has contributed to the dramatic fall in government tax revenues from the tobacco industry from a record high of P176 billion in 2021 to P135 billion in 2023.
(With report from PNA/OpinYon News Team)
PHOTO CAPTIONS - SMUGGLED. Some of the illegal cigarettes seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Bulacan in this undated photo. The Bureau of Internal Revenue has recorded PHP183.36 million losses in taxes due to trading of illegal cigarettes in Eastern Visayas since 2018. (Photo courtesy of BOC)
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