Excise taxes could soon be coming to pickup trucks

Pickup trucks could soon become even more expensive as the House committee on ways and means has just approved of a measure that will impose excise taxes on pickup trucks. As a quick refresher, pickup trucks are exempt from excise duties thanks to the current version of the TRAIN law. This was done because these vehicles were seen as “workhorses for smaller business owners and professionals.

However, thanks to Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, noted that the DTI observed that pickup trucks were rarely used to serve this function. Instead, the government organization stated that they were used as passenger, leisure, or sports utility vehicles.

That being said, Diokno sent a letter to the House ways and means committee chair and Albay Representative Joey Salceda stating that car manufacturers have been using this as a loophole and are reportedly circumventing the “law and purpose of their pickup truck model’s exception from the excise tax.

In response to this Salceda approved a measure removing the excise tax exemption from pickup trucks. If this gets signed into law, pickup trucks will be levied the same excise tax under the TRAIN law. This means that their prices will increase accordingly: 

• P 600,000 and below – 4 percent
• Above P 600,000 to P 1,000,000 – 10 percent
• Above P 1,000,000 to P 4,000,000 – 20 percent
• Above P 4,000,000 – 50 percent

The further specifics of this measure have yet to be determined and there is no indication yet if pickup trucks as a whole will become no longer be exempt or will there be specific models such as single cab variants that will remain exempt from the excise taxation. 

If this gets signed into law, pickup trucks could soon see a hefty increase in price, especially for the higher grade variants. This could also affect one of the fastest growing segments in the local automotive market just as how SUVs were big before the implementation of the TRAIN law.