ROXAS TO BIR: REVIEW VAT APPLICATION FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

Liberal President Sen. Mar Roxas today called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to review how drugstores apply the value-added tax (VAT) on medicines purchased by senior citizens, after he received complaints on this during consultations with urban poor groups in Cebu City today.

Roxas, chairman of the Senate committee on trade and commerce, said the VAT is incorrectly applied on medicines bought by the elderly.

"Mahalaga na ang mga senior citizens natin ay ma-enjoy ang kanilang retirement. Kung magbabayad sila ng sobra, lalaki lang ang kanilang problema sa ganung edad," the senator said.

He noted that in in practice, pharmacies first subject purchased drugs to a 20% senior citizens' discount before the 12% VAT on all goods is applied, resulting in a total discount of only 8%.

The Ilonggo senator said the computation is not correct, pointing out that the VAT should first be applied to the total cost of medicines before the 20 percent discount is computed.

"Dapat tingnan ng BIR kung paanong maaayos ang gastusin ng mga senior citizens dahil nalilito pati mga drugstore kung paano ito ipatutupad," he said.

"Ang trabaho ng gobyerno ay siguruhin na magiging maayos ang buhay ng lahat ng taong bayan. At sa ganitong kaso, talong-talo ang mga senior citizens natin," he added.

Roxas is a long-time advocate of affordable medicines. He is the author of the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008, which eases patent laws and bring in more affordable medicines abroad, helping spur competition to bring down prices.

It likewise strengthens the Bureau of Food and Drugs to serve as a counterfoil to attempts to bring in fake or substandard medicines, by allowing BFAD to retain its operating income from fees and other charges so it could upgrade its facilities and beef up its human resources.