Zero tax incentive for electric vehicle imports should include motorcycles

CitizenWatch Philippines believes that while the Palace has good intentions in issuing Executive Order 12 granting tax breaks to the importation of four-wheel electric vehicles, the policy is discriminatory because it limits the benefits to higher-income individuals who can afford four-wheel cars.

Meanwhile, the bulk of the Filipino working class use two or three-wheel vehicles, and even public utility jeepneys. It is they who most need affordable commutes to be at their places of work to earn their living, and they who are most affected by the soaring prices of fuel and other goods.

It is imperative for the President to amend the EO to expand these tax incentives to those who need them the most.

Filipino motorists – whatever vehicle they drive – are aware that we need to resort to more sustainable means of powering our everyday activities, and to minimize pollution.

Often, however, people are constrained by the prohibitive costs of these high priced “green” alternatives, thus consigning them to stick to the old, dirty, and inefficient transport modes that are accessible affordability and availability wise.

The Palace has the authority to quicky rectify this damaging flaw in EO 12. The benefits of a shifting to more sustainable means of transportation must be experienced not just by those who already live relatively comfortably, but more so for majority of the population who must struggle harder to have a respectable quality of life.