THE DUTERTE administration is bent on raising the excise tax on petroleum products and is now drafting a targeted subsidy scheme similar to the existing conditional cash transfer (CCT) program for poor households to be affected.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III pointed out that “contrary to the common perception that fuel excise tax increases would affect the poor the most, DOF studies show that 60 percent of petroleum products are consumed by the top 10 percent of the country’s top income earners.”

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