7 hours Ago By N/A (Inigo Roces)
EDITORS DESK Last week, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) posted a notice of public auction for two high profile hypercars that were seized early this year. The cars in questions are two Bugatti Chiron hypercars that managed to evade customs and were plying Philippine roads for some time. Quite puzzlingly, these two vehicles were able to be registered, acquire plate numbers, and even gated village stickers.
For the uninitiated, the Bugatti Chiron is one of the world’s most expensive performance vehicles. The vehicle is one of only a handful capable of producing over 1000-hp in stock form and on to a top speed of over 420-km/h. These performance figures are quite high, even for cars in this caliber.
Naturally, they’re also quite limited and very expensive. Also, this vehicle is already discontinued, further limiting its availability. Each car is valued at least as much as ₱165 million each, when brand new.
Of course, if it were imported legally into the country, with our web of vehicle taxes, excise taxes, tariffs and shipping dues, the cars can easily double in price to as much as ₱330 million when brand new. Not surprisingly, the BOC set the floor price for these vehicles at a hair above ₱300 million. Take note however that these vehicles are already used.
One is a 2017 model and another is a 2019 model. As such, the appropriate vehicle depreciation should have been taken into account. Nonetheless, it shouldn’t be too much, putting their price still above the ₱250 million range.
A few days later, the BOC declared the auction a failure as no bids were submitted for the two vehicles. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to the agency as these prices are already quite high as far as supercars go. Not the price but the seller However, it’s not the price itself that’s the problem.
There are many millionaires who will willingly drop ₱100-M on the latest set of Porsche, Lamborghini, or Ferrari models. Rather, it is about who is selling them. Any buyer that does have the ₱300-M lying around to buy one likely won’t want to transact with the government for fear that their name, recent purchases, and source of income might come under scrutiny.
If they truly want to sell the vehicles for that hefty sum, perhaps hiring a third party auctioneer, such as Salcedo Auctions, would be more successful. Just don’t ask who the buyer is, give the auctioneer their cut, and simply put the funds to better use. After all, this new price already includes the taxes.
Everything should then be in order so long as the price is paid. Use them as an example Of course, there’s also the possibility that such cars that have graced multiple broadsheet and news program headlines are already deemed tainted goods by any prospective buyer. Who would want to be seen driving a vehicle once labeled as smuggled? Rather than simply crush the cars for what little media mileage and good governance press that is worth, why not take the cars on a nationwide tour.
There’s no better proof of the sheer greed and brazenness of smugglers than these vehicles. As such, why not take these cars on a nationwide tour around the country’s cities. Put them on display in public spaces, along with panels that break down just how many schools, ambulances, or relief goods that properly paid taxes from these cars could have bought.
Illustrate why high tariffs are placed on cars like these in the first place — to generate revenue for the country from the wealthy that want to spend on flashy personal vehicles rather than charitable institutions that help their countrymen. Emphasize that these taxes and tariffs are slapped on to also protect the local and regional vehicle assemblers that give jobs to Filipinos and Asians. High taxes paid for cars like these are what allow the government to lower taxes on more affordable and locally built vehicles like the Toyota Vios, Innova, and soon, the Tamaraw.
With such a nationwide tour, we can educate our countrymen on the value of properly documenting imported goods, taxes, and tariffs. It’s not about giving the government more money, but protecting our own industries and those businesses that do pay the proper taxes. Perhaps then our countrymen will be better informed on why these duties are imposed in the first place.
(Iñigo S. Roces is the Motoring Editor of Manila Bulletin).
