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Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda is pushing for a "junk food tax" amid talks to implement a food stamps program. Salceda expressed confidence Sunday, June 4 that a junk food tax has a chance of prospering in Congress, as he cited as an example the existing sweetened beverage taxes under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law. He added that three agencies--the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Agriculture (DA), and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)--need to give inputs for the proposal to work. "If you will earmark the revenues entirely for this program, I think junk food taxes also stand a chance in Congress. So, it has to be a DOH-DA-DSWD effort, with the economic managers guiding us about funding,” Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said. DSWD's proposed food stamps program has so far met some opposition from economic managers due to cost concerns. “If we are going to discuss new taxes on any junk food, funding nutritional programs should be part of the mix," noted the economist-lawmaker. “The TRAIN law, which introduced sweetened beverage taxes, earmarks around 30 percent of its revenues to social measures, including, very specifically, 'Social mitigating measures and investments in: (i) education, (ii) health, targeted nutrition, and anti-hunger programs for mothers, infants, and young children," he explained. "I have not received an official request from the Department of Finance to take up the measure they said they want my committee to take up. But if they send a draft bill for me to file and take up, funding nutritional programs with a hard earmark has to be part of the mix,” Salceda said. Earlier, the economic managers called for the passage of increases in the sweetened beverage taxes.