Why create an oil supply shortage when there should not be any?

Or why make the Filipino people suffer unnecessarily?

These questions are being asked after it has been reported that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has earlier threatened to seize $923 million future imports of Shell covering the period February to May 2010 allegedly as payment for unpaid back taxes incurred by the oil company.

Shell, however, is questioning the BOC’s tax assessment contending that the imports, in the form of Catalytic Cracked Gasoline (CCG) and Light Catalytic Cracked Gasoline (LCCG) are simply raw materials for the production of unleaded gasoline.

This being the case, that both imported products will still go through a refinery yet, it will be unjust for BOC to impose the excise tax on an intermediate product when it should be only levied on finished products for consumption and sale in the domestic market.

Shell legal counsel and former ombudsman Simeon Marcelo said the BOC’s demand constitutes double taxation since Shell already paid billions in taxes for finished products withdrawn from its refinery.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes has warned, saying, that “if indeed BOC confiscates the imports of Shell, there will definitely be some disruptions.”

Since the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) share opinion that Shell did not incur tax deficiencies it is hoped that government will look into this and resolve the issue as early as possible so people will be freed from unnecessary anxiety.