Philippine Congress Backs Off From Text Tax
Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) - The Committee on Ways and Means of the Philippine Congress is backing off from a plan to tax text messages. The withdrawal comes in the form of a refusal by committee chair Cong. Exequiel Javier to calendar the SMS tax bill on its regular weekly meeting.
The bill's author - Cong. Danilo Suarez - asked the committee last week to schedule the measure for voting before the House of Representatives went into their month-long yearend break.
The committee similarly did not calendar another Suarez's proposal to hike excise tax rates on cigarettes and liquor. Suarez admitted his twin proposals were likely to be thumbed down by the committee, which he said refuses to help the government increase its tax collection despite the country facing a massive budget deficit.
The proposed text tax is 0.1 cent (five centavo) for every text message. The measure could have raised $430 to $775 million (20 to 36 billion peso) based on an average 10 SMS sent per day by 70 million Filipinos using prepaid subscription. The Philippines is considered the texting capital of the world.
The measure is seen as politically unpopular because of the opposition by majority of Filipino mobile phone owners to the tax. With elections for Congress in May 2010, congressmen are wary of siding with Suarez's bill for fear of losing their reelection bids. Filipinos prefer texting over voice calls because of the lower cost. A text message costs 2 cents (one peso), while a voice call costs 13 cents (6 peso) per minute.
Groups opposed to the bill have threatened to vote against congressmen who would vote for the text tax. The threat is not empty since the Philippines ousted former President Joseph Estrada in 2001 mainly on the power of texting brigade.
source
The bill's author - Cong. Danilo Suarez - asked the committee last week to schedule the measure for voting before the House of Representatives went into their month-long yearend break.
The committee similarly did not calendar another Suarez's proposal to hike excise tax rates on cigarettes and liquor. Suarez admitted his twin proposals were likely to be thumbed down by the committee, which he said refuses to help the government increase its tax collection despite the country facing a massive budget deficit.
The proposed text tax is 0.1 cent (five centavo) for every text message. The measure could have raised $430 to $775 million (20 to 36 billion peso) based on an average 10 SMS sent per day by 70 million Filipinos using prepaid subscription. The Philippines is considered the texting capital of the world.
The measure is seen as politically unpopular because of the opposition by majority of Filipino mobile phone owners to the tax. With elections for Congress in May 2010, congressmen are wary of siding with Suarez's bill for fear of losing their reelection bids. Filipinos prefer texting over voice calls because of the lower cost. A text message costs 2 cents (one peso), while a voice call costs 13 cents (6 peso) per minute.
Groups opposed to the bill have threatened to vote against congressmen who would vote for the text tax. The threat is not empty since the Philippines ousted former President Joseph Estrada in 2001 mainly on the power of texting brigade.
source
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