Joey Salceda, House Ways and Means Committee chair, is looking to impose the motor vehicle user’s tax on “non-conventional” vehicles, such as 3-wheeled or wheeled single chassis vehicles, as he files for House Bill 10038.
With approval by the House on the third reading on December 12, 2023, the proposed “Non-Conventional Vehicles’ Road Users’ Tax Act” seeks to bring into closer parity the rates of non-conventional vehicles as those proposed for light cars under House Bill No. 9647.
Expected to produce an estimated revenue ranging from Php2.912 billion in 2024 to Php5.474 billion in 2027, Salcedo claims that the law, if enacted, could bring additional income for road infrastructure.
Using the factors of capacity (four-seater), form (single-chassis, integrated unit), and size, Salcedo explains that non-conventional vehicles border light vehicles more than tricycles. In comparison to conventional tricycles, which are described as motorcycles with an after-factory attached sidecar, non-conventional vehicles are said to be completely established, single units.
“As such, the rates of tax imposed on such vehicles should also be closer to rates imposed on light cars than rates imposed on tricycles,” per Salceda.
Using market data, some 1.4 million “non-conventional” vehicles, three-wheeled or four-wheeled single-chassis vehicles, electric-powered or otherwise, are said to have been procured by Philippine-based motor vehicle users since 2020.
During the same period, a ballpark of 432,000 diesel-fueled three-wheeled vehicles was sold to the market, Salceda added.