Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno: “Yung tax on digital services, it is only fair na ita-tax natin ‘yon.”
BENJAMIN DIOKNO — On Wednesday, the Finance Secretary said that taxes on digital services was based on the principle of “fairness”.
Diokno said that the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will look to tax digital services.
He was quoted in May that he’s seeking to tax digital transactions and streaming services such as Netflix. Also, several lawmakers have filed bills aiming to tax companies such as Spotify, Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
Diokno said during the Presidential press briefing that taxes on digital services was based on the principle of “fairness”
“Yung tax on digital services, it is only fair na ita-tax natin ‘yon. If you are buying it from the regular stores, nagta-tax ka, ay bakit naman kapag digital hindi ka nagta-tax?” he told reporters. “I think in the sense of fairness, dapat magkaroon ng tax especially medyo, if you think about it, yung mga nakakaangat yung nakakakuha ng ganyan, yung digital payments.“
In May 2022, the Department of Finance (DOF) proposed excise taxes for single-use plastics, VAT on digital services providers, and tax for cryptocurrencies.
The DOF then said that the new taxes were “critical” so the government can generate PHP 349 billion in new revenues between 2023 and 2027 in order to help trim the Philippines’ trillion debt, which was PHP 12.5 trillion as of May 2022.
Aside from this, Diokno said there were two more tax reform program packages left to be implemented from the Duterte administration, which could “simplify a lot of the tax systems”.
“We will push for that and we expect that to be approved at the end of the year and it would be implemented next year,” Diokno said.
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