Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Palace flip-flops on text tax
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In the wake of bitter protests from some consumer groups and mobile phone companies, Malacañang Friday backtracked from its earlier support for a congressional proposal to impose new taxes on text messages.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Palace will instead wait until the two houses of Congress pass the final version of the proposed five centavo tax on every text message sent from mobile phones before making any decision.
"At this point, it is premature to say that the administration is for it. We have to study carefully the final version of the bill that will be tackled by the Senate," Ermita said in a radio interview.
"For now, we cannot say if we can support it because we don't know the nuances and details of the proposed measure," he added.
Deputy Presidential Spokesman for Economic Affairs Gary Olivar pushed for a thorough study on the new tax proposal on text messages amid concerns the measure was an additional burden to low-income consumers.
Olivar, speaking to reporters in the Palace, said the lawmakers should scrutinize the measure "very carefully because we are talking about a major industry in our country" and make the necessary adjustments.
He admitted though that the administration supports the "no-pass on provision" in the proposed tax on text. "
"We are talking about a major revenue gain but would create political issues. We don't want to be wrong messages to investors from outside. We don't want to give the policy that we are soaking the rich just because they are rich," he said.
"If you are seeing objections coming from both sides of the fence, there is really room for further study and maybe some revisions are in order," he added.
Olivar said as far as he knows, the controversial measure is not among the priority administration bills pending in Congress. "Those original measures had a benefit of close study by the Department of Finance including very clear and well measured estimates of the revenue impact," he said.
In a bid to raise additional revenues for government programs, Malacañang earlier threw its support behind the proposed tax on text, which could generate as much as R36 billion every year, but with certain conditions.
Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez said the Palace will endorse the proposed tax on text as long as the measure was not passed on to consumers. Golez added that lawmakers should also make clear on how the tax will be implemented and ensure the proceeds are used for specific purposes such as education.
Last Wednesday, Ermita said the government will support "any measures that will help generate funds and resources for governance" amid moves in Congress to pass the new tax on text.
Early this week, the House committee on ways and means approved a proposal imposing a five-centavo tax on text, multimedia messages, and calls. The proceeds will be allocated for the education sector, particularly for skills training.
Congress is expected to debate the bill next week.
Labels: philippine news online, tax, text messages
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