City council backs taxi operators’ stand vs tax

By Ramon Dacawi

BAGUIO CITY -- The city council Monday joined taxi operators in asking the Bureau of Internal Revenue to forego imposition of a three percent tax on gross earnings of units based on the receipts coming out of their meters.

The local legislature adopted the recommendation of its committee on public utilities, transportation and traffic legislations headed by councilor Nicasio Aliping Jr. to endorse the plea of the Samahan ng Taksi sa Cordillera Administrative Region (STCAR) headed by Melanio Panayo.

In a petition to BIR commissioner Kim Henares, Panayo said the implementation of the three percent tax also known as Common Carrier Tax under Republic Act 9337 would add to the burdens of a transport industry already saddled by escalating cost of operations.

Panayo said while taxi operators in Baguio were already apprised of the BIR plan to impose the three percent tax on gross receipts,  inquiries from taxi operators in Metro-Manila and other major cities in the country revealed they have not been informed of such plan.

“Imposing the CCT to the local taxi operators while the same is not yet being enforced  on taxi operators in Metro-Manila and other major cities in the country will not be a fair and equal proposition,” Panayo said in his letter to Henares, through revenue district officer Fely Simon.

He explained that majority of local operators have only one or two units (who) “bear the brunt of operating below break-even because the continuous hikes in the costs of transport operation could not be controlled by government”.

Panayo added that the taxi rates in Baguio are lower than those pegged for Metro-Manila and other cities despite its mountainous terrain that results in bigger fuel consumption and more frequent replacement of auto parts.

These were precisely the reasons, Panayo said, why the Cordillera used to be a grantee of higher fare rates in the 1980s and 1990s on recommendation of the the Committee on the Revision of Public Service Law of the University of the Philippines Law Center.

“But even this was forgotten by the (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) after a few years of implementation, to the prejudice of taxi operations in Baguio City and (the Cordillera),” he said.

The BIR is set to implement this month the registration of all taxi meters issuing receipt pursuant to Revenue Memorandum Order No. 12-2012, Panayo told the city council.