Opposition to Tax On Text in the Philippines

A proposed tax on text messaging has resurfaced in the Philippines, the "texting capital of the world", reports Inq7.net.

"You can't kill the goose that lays the golden egg," Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. chairman Manuel Pangilinan said, opposing the proposal. There are more than 22 million cellular phone subscribers in the country sending as many as 170 million text messages daily. Phone firms charge at least one peso per message sent.

Simulations by the finance department showed a five percent tax on text messaging should boost government revenues by 8.5 million pesos a day or more than three billion pesos a year."

See related article published in 2002, on Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho's statement issued to the media on the government's proposal to impose a 10 percent tax on text messages - and the public's outcry. Tax On Text Stirs Controversy In The Philippines .

emily | 4:09 PM | SMS and Politics |
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2004/03/003217.htm