Additional Tax on Video Streaming, Digital Economy is Being Push in Senate
Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla filed a resolution to the Senate for collecting additional tax on video streaming and the digital economy.
The lawmaker filed a Senate Resolution No. 410 day after Albay Representative Joel Salceda proposed the collecting of a tax on streaming platforms such as Netflix and Facebook ads. As this is the way of the government to earn revenue for the country.
Revilla stated Norway, Australia, Japan, France, South Korea, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Malaysia, technology-advance countries have adopted and passed their respective versions of the digital service tax laws. This let them collect taxes from the consumption and usage of digital content and services from providers.
The digital establishment of a digital taxation framework is included in the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force Technical Working Group (IATF TWG) for Anticipatory and Forward Planning, Revilla stressed.
“We need to embrace the digital revolution of our time, and to comprehensively review and update our existing tax laws regarding digital economy,” Revilla said.
He also noted the Filipinos exceed the global average online time which is six hours and 42 minutes. They typically spend 10 hours facing their smartphone and browsing online world that makes them voracious online users.
According to the article by Newsbytes PH, Filipinos spend at least 3 hours or more for watching online content on mobile devices daily. They can also spend over 4 hours surfing on various social media platforms every day, twice from the global average of 2 hours and 16 minutes.
Revilla said that the collected tax from the platforms can be used to finance the national economic recovery plan, this includes rehabilitation of severely affected industries. Also, this can help the construction of “Schools for the Future” that are equipped with digital technologies and laboratories.
“Habang patuloy po ang pagpapatupad natin ng quarantine measures tulad ng social distancing at pagbabawal sa mass gathering, at sa pagpasok nga po natin doon sa tinatawag na ‘New Normal,’ tiyak pong mas marami tayong kababayan na gagamit ng technology-based services tulad ng mga online streaming at online market,” Revilla said.
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