Albay Representative Joey Salceda is pushing in the Congress new policies for tax collection, leveraging into digital platforms such as Netflix, Facebook, and Lazada to augment the revenues foregone in corporate tax cuts.
Salceda wants to push for new taxes on digital platforms such as “Netflix Tax”, “Facebook Ads Tax”, and “Lazada Tax”. In an Inquirer story, the Albay congressman noted that other countries have implemented taxes on these platforms with an average of 5%, with some countries like Chile going as high as 19%.
In these new initiatives, the government will impose a 12% value-added tax, including corporate taxes, on all rendered services. “The big money is in finding a way to tax the advertising on Facebook and Google,” Salceda said, adding that these two tech giants operate like a duopoly in the country as they dominated the online space here.
Salceda also noted that not all Lazada merchants pay for taxes, as those who do allegedly account for roughly 50% and consists of legitimate shops who are large taxpayers, as well as big corporations. Salceda also wants to capture the small business that oftentimes escape through the meticulous BIR process. Only half have their taxes fully-accounted with the BIR, he claims.
Once the bill is passed into law, the government can have the right to block online access to those that will not remit their corresponding taxes.
