Solons file bill to include road users tax in budget

Photo by Robert Viñas / PCOO

MANILA — Two lamakers from Mindanao filed a bill which seeks to include the taxes collected from road users in the annual budget.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and younger brother Abante Mindanao partylist Rep.

Maximo Rodriguez Jr. filed House Bill 4299 which amends the Republic Act 8794 or the  “Act Imposing a Motor Vehicle User’s Charge on Owners of All Types of Motor Vehicles and for Other Purposes.”

Rodriguez explained that the government collected P90.7 billion from 2001 to December 2012 in amount called the Motor Vehicle User’s Fund.

“The average annual collection was at around P7 billion.  However, there were reports that as of the end of 2012, only P10.

2 billion remained of the fund,” Rodriguez said.

The lawmakers are seeking to include the phrase “as may be determined by Congress,” and the phrase “and form part of the general fund of the Philippines to be appropriated by Congress in the Annual General Appropriations Act.”

The fund who is supposedly allocated for road maintenance and improvement is now at the disposal of the  Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).