Increasing the Specific Tax on Gasoline and Similar Petroleum Products

January 15, 1976

PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 874

INCREASING THE SPECIFIC TAX ON GASOLINE, DIESEL FUEL OIL, BUNKER FUEL OIL AND OTHER SIMILAR PETROLEUM PRODUCTS BY FURTHER AMENDING SECTIONS 142, 144 AND 145 OF THE NATIONAL INTERNAL REVENUE CODE, AS AMENDED

WHEREAS, the need for additional revenue for accelerated development has rendered it imperative for the government to tap resources from which this might equitably be derived; casia

WHEREAS, the increase in taxes on certain petroleum products is a good source of revenue for the government;

WHEREAS, notwithstanding the last increase in the rate of specific tax on gasoline, the tax on gasoline in the Philippines is still one of the lowest in Asia as revealed in a comparative study of gasoline taxes in several Asian countries/cities; and

WHEREAS, the increase in tax on gasoline, diesel fuel oil, bunker fuel oil and other petroleum products is consistent with the declared policy of the government to conserve fuel;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution, do hereby order and decree the following:

SECTION 1. Sections 142, 144 and 145 of the National Internal Revenue Code, as amended, are hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Sec. 142. Specific tax on manufactured oils and other fuels — On refined and manufactured mineral oils and motor fuels there shall be collected the following taxes:

(a) Kerosene, per liter of volume capacity, seven centavos;

(b) Lubricating oils, per liter of volume capacity, sixty-five centavos;

(c) Naphtha, gasoline, and all other similar products of distillation, per liter of volume capacity, thirty-three centavos;

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(f) Thinners and solvents, per liter of volume capacity, nineteen centavos;

(g) Liquefied petroleum gas, per kilogram, twelve centavos;

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(j) Aviation turbo jet fuel, per liter of volume capacity, nine centavos.

"Sec. 144. Specific tax on bunker fuel oil. — On fuel oil, commercially known as bunker fuel oil, and on all similar fuel oils, having more or less the same generating power, there shall be collected, per liter, four and one-half centavos."

"Sec. 145. Specific tax on diesel fuel oil. — On fuel oil, commercially known as diesel fuel oil, and on all similar fuel oils, having more or less the same generating power, there shall be collected, per liter, fourteen and one-half centavos."

SECTION 2. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 15th day of January, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Six.