Mighty Corp made giant leap over their excise tax payment

The excise tax paid by a cigarette company made a quantum leap from P300 million in 2012 to at least P8 billion for the whole year of 2013, according to data from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.  

This was announced by  Oscar Barrientos, executive vice president of Mighty Corp., who added that “the tax we paid for the year 2013 just past reflects the jump in our market share and our fair share in the increased taxes on “sin” products.

Barrientos, a retired  regional trial court judge, said the facts should put to rest false accusations that Mighty Corporation has not been paying its correct taxes.

He further pointed out that despite charges in the news media and by some members of Congress against the company, no case has been filed in court.

In fact, Barrientos pointed out, the BIR and the Bureau of Customs have cleared his company of any tax deficiency until February of this year.

The company paid P300 million in 2012, the former judge explained, when its share of the local market of cigarette was a measly three percent. This share shot up since the government put into effect Republic Act 10352, otherwise known as the new sin tax law.

The law has synchronized a five-year adjustment of taxes on cigarettes for it to become a uniform P30 per pack in five years covering all brands.

Records of the Bureau of Internal Revenue   had shown that excise taxes from both cigarettes and alcohol products increased by 81.5 percent despite a decline in the number of sticks sold.
Total tax take from January to November hit an all-time high of P91.6 billion from P60.4 billion in 2012.

Taxes from cigarettes represented 61.6 percent or almost two thirds of sin tax collections for 11 months.

Mighty Corp., which until the year 2012, was a minor player, pitched in more than P8 billion of the excise tax, not to mention the income tax the company will have to pay for the same year come deadline time.