OPINION: Abolishing the travel tax is not a ₱6-billion “loss” for the gov’t

The government would give up a long-standing revenue source, but Filipinos would finally stop paying a tax they have carried for decades.

The Senate is finally moving toward something Filipinos who travel abroad have been waiting a very long time to see: the possible end of the travel tax. The government, naturally, has a number to remind us of what that would mean—nearly ₱6 billion a year in foregone revenue that it would no longer collect.

That sounds like a painful “loss.” Except I’m not sure we should be mourning money that never should have been taken from travelers in the first place.

The Philippines has been collecting a tax on people leaving the country for decades. Today, the standard travel tax is ₱1,620 for economy or business class and ₱2,700 for first class. These rates have been in place for decades, with the current framework tracing back to Presidential Decree 1183 and later amendments.

The travel tax has survived generations of Filipinos, changes in technology, cheaper air travel, and a world where international mobility has become far more common. A tax created in another era has remained part of the travel experience for millions of Filipinos, including families visiting loved ones abroad, students pursuing opportunities overseas, and workers traveling for employment.

Filipinos have questioned the need for this tax for years. Yet despite those criticisms, it has remained in place, largely because it has become a steady source of funding for government programs.

The usual defense is that the money serves a purpose, and that is true. Under the current system, travel-tax collections are distributed among TIEZA, CHED, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to support tourism infrastructure, education, and cultural programs.

Those are important areas that deserve public support. But the value of the programs being funded should not automatically become an argument for preserving the tax itself.

If tourism infrastructure, education, and culture require public funding, then government should find appropriate and sustainable ways to support them. A tax should not survive simply because it has become a convenient source of revenue.

This is why the ₱6-billion figure deserves a closer look. Calling it a “loss” suggests that the government is giving up money that rightfully belongs to it. But what is really happening is that travelers will keep money that was previously collected from them.

Some of that money will be saved. Some could go toward airfare, hotels, food, transportation, or shopping. Some families may even find the additional ₱1,620 per traveler enough to make an overseas trip slightly more affordable.

Of course, it would be unrealistic to assume that every peso from abolished travel taxes will immediately flow back into the economy. But it is equally wrong to assume that every peso collected by government automatically creates more value simply because it goes through government coffers.

The issue is not whether the government will collect less revenue once the travel tax disappears. The issue is whether Filipinos should still be paying a special tax simply because they want to leave the country.

After decades of collecting it, perhaps the travel tax has reached the point where its strongest defense is that it has always existed.

That is not enough of a reason to keep the travel tax.

The government should find a way to replace funding for programs that genuinely need support. But it should stop presenting the abolition of the travel tax as a ₱6-billion loss.

Perhaps it is better viewed as ₱6 billion that will finally stay with the people who earned it.

That’s the point.

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