SENATOR Ralph Recto yesterday insisted that toll fees were not among the goods and services covered by the new Expanded Value-Added Tax law.

He challenged finance officials to "point out the line" in the 61-page Republic Act 9337 which says toll fees should be subjected to value-added tax.

"It's not there. So how can the said law be used to justify the levying of VAT on toll road users?" Recto asked.

He recalled that the application of VAT on pay-per-use roads was never discussed in the congressional hearings and even in the bicameral conference to reconcile the conflicting provisions of the House and Senate versions.

"You can go on a page-by-page examination of the thick transcript of debates and you'll find that the issue of toll fees was not even touched," Recto said.

"So
“You can go on a page-by-page examination of the thick transcript of debates (in Congress) and you'll find that the issue of toll fees was not even touched.”

the many congressmen and senators who crafted the law were really surprised that RA 9337 is being invoked in the 'VAT-ing' of toll fees. It gives the impression that Congress imposed a VAT on toll fees when it did not," he said.

He said it was wrong for the Bureau of Internal Revenue to have the VAT on toll fees "ride on" the November 1 implementation date of the law expanding the coverage of VAT to previously exempt goods and services.

"If toll fees were subject to VAT in the first place but toll road operators have been enjoying a reprieve since, then the time to re-impose it is not when other goods and services are being subjected to VAT for the first time," he said.

Recto added "that if VAT is presumed to have been embedded with the toll fees, but its collections were not remitted to the BIR, then would this mean that toll road operators have liabilities with the government?"

Recto urged the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) and the Department of Finance (DOF) to consider deferring the implementation of VAT on toll fees until this matter has been cleared up.