A PHILIPPINE senator on Monday filed a resolution seeking to look into the smuggling of sports cars that bypassed customs clearance, which cost the government P165 million in excise tax revenues.
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who filed Senate Resolution No. 954 on March 6, said the smuggling of two Bugatti Chiron sports cars, among the most expensive cars in the world, showed the need for the government to enhance border control measures to deter tax leakages.
“There is a need to determine the lapses and loopholes in government processes that lead to the continuous persistence of outright smuggling of luxury items in the country, including cars, that deprives the government of much-needed revenues and poses a serious and great threat to the national economy,” he said.
The two Bugatti sports cars are valued at P165 million each. At 50% excise tax, the government missed out on P165 million in revenues from the importation of the supercars, Mr. Gatchalian said.
The Bureau of Customs had received information about the smuggled cars in November, prompting the agency to issue a seizure warrant against the two undocumented Bugatti cars.
Mr. Gatchalian said there is a need to use modern technology to keep an eye on undocumented luxury cars, which he said threatens the economy.
“We should not allow these practices since the tax collected by the government and which would be used for projects to strengthen the economy and improve the lives of Filipinos would suffer,” he said in Filipino. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
