A bill taxing online services such as Netflix and Spotify has been filed in the 19th Congress to raise much needed revenues for the government.
House Bill 372 filed by Albay Rep. Joey Salceda seeks to expand the base of the 12% value-added tax by imposing it on online subscription services.
The government could raise as much as P154 billion in five years should the bill become a law, Salceda said.
“The digital economy is growing rapidly, but digital economy taxation is falling flat. Imagine, in 2019, the digital economy tax collections of the BIR was at P45 billion. By 2020, it was still at around P45 billion,” Salceda said in a statement. “That’s hardly believable given the increase in digital transactions.”
Financr Secretary Benjamin Diokno has said he is pushing for its passage to boost tax collections, calling it a measure for fairness.