Text tax concern
Public uproar over text tax seen
The Department of Justice favors taxing text but warned that it could raise "howls" from the people.
Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzales’s proposal to tax text will create additional revenues for the government since millions of people are using cellular phones.
"I think it should be considered. It would create a lot of opposition pero maiintindihan naman ito ng taumbayan [but the people should understand] that this would generate revenues for the government," Gonzales explained.
He was reacting to the proposal of Sen. Richard Gordon to tax text messaging instead of imposing value-added tax (VAT) on power, liquefied petroleum gas and processed food.
He said the government should not add to the people’s burden by collecting VAT on their most basic needs.
A reformed value-added tax (R-VAT) will be in effect starting November 1 following the lifting by the Supreme Court of its restraining order on the implementation of the expanded value-added tax.
There are now many proposals to amend the law even before it could be implemented. Among the proposed amendments is the exemption of power, fuel and processed food from its coverage.
Gordon said that taxing text messaging is a compromise formula that answers the problem of generating revenue for the government without passing on additional tariff to processed food and LPG.
He noted that 200 million text messages are sent out daily in the Philippines.
"We can generate P73 billion a year in revenue if we tax each message sent with P1," he said.
Gordon said the P73-billion projected income would be enough to compensate for the shortfall arising from a tax exemption on power, LPG and processed food.
"With tax on text instead of on fuel and power, we can not only fill in the needed revenue of the government but also provide for the needs of the people, build schools, buy textbooks, develop healthcare programs and boost tourism and trade to create job opportunities," he stressed.
There had been previous proposals to tax text messages but these were withdrawn after they were met with vigorous objections by text-crazy consumers.
Gordon said there is more sense in taxing text messages than basic needs.
"Text messages are not needs but merely ‘wants’ that we can control and live without," he remarked. Jomar Canlas, ABS CBN
The Department of Justice favors taxing text but warned that it could raise "howls" from the people.
Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzales’s proposal to tax text will create additional revenues for the government since millions of people are using cellular phones.
"I think it should be considered. It would create a lot of opposition pero maiintindihan naman ito ng taumbayan [but the people should understand] that this would generate revenues for the government," Gonzales explained.
He was reacting to the proposal of Sen. Richard Gordon to tax text messaging instead of imposing value-added tax (VAT) on power, liquefied petroleum gas and processed food.
He said the government should not add to the people’s burden by collecting VAT on their most basic needs.
A reformed value-added tax (R-VAT) will be in effect starting November 1 following the lifting by the Supreme Court of its restraining order on the implementation of the expanded value-added tax.
There are now many proposals to amend the law even before it could be implemented. Among the proposed amendments is the exemption of power, fuel and processed food from its coverage.
Gordon said that taxing text messaging is a compromise formula that answers the problem of generating revenue for the government without passing on additional tariff to processed food and LPG.
He noted that 200 million text messages are sent out daily in the Philippines.
"We can generate P73 billion a year in revenue if we tax each message sent with P1," he said.
Gordon said the P73-billion projected income would be enough to compensate for the shortfall arising from a tax exemption on power, LPG and processed food.
"With tax on text instead of on fuel and power, we can not only fill in the needed revenue of the government but also provide for the needs of the people, build schools, buy textbooks, develop healthcare programs and boost tourism and trade to create job opportunities," he stressed.
There had been previous proposals to tax text messages but these were withdrawn after they were met with vigorous objections by text-crazy consumers.
Gordon said there is more sense in taxing text messages than basic needs.
"Text messages are not needs but merely ‘wants’ that we can control and live without," he remarked. Jomar Canlas, ABS CBN
posted by Anonymous at
9:15 AM
1 Comments:
This tax text was already approved last year and I know that it could be a big help to the financial support for the government. And I hope that this is could not be the root for other corruptions. Thank sa mga kababayan kong mahilig mag blog (blogger) ituloy nyo lang ito kasi ito na lang ang paraan natin para ilabas ang ating nararamdaman.
By
Rådgivende ingeniørfirma, at 9/02/2009 2:53 PM
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