Malacanang refuses to meddle on text tax

Malacañang will keep its hands off the row involving a five-centavo tax on text messaging, at least until both houses of Congress pass a measure on the matter. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Friday it is too early to comment on the matter since it merely passed the committee level at the House of Representatives. “I think at this point masasabing premature pa sabihin agad ng pamahalaan that the administration is for it, kinakailangan tingnang mabuti kung ano ang final version na lalabas matapos talakayin yan ng Senado (I think at this point it is premature for government to back the text tax. We have to study the final version of the proposed law, which has yet to earn the approval of the Senate)," Ermita said in an interview on dzXL radio. But he said the text tax would potentially be beneficial to the government, bringing in needed revenues for government programs. “Sa ngayon di natin masabi kung sasangayunan dahil di natin alam ang nuances at detalye niyan at magiging batas lang yan matapos talakayin sa Senado (For now we cannot say if we can support it. We do not know the nuances and details of the proposed measure)," he said. Last Tuesday, the House committee on ways and means approved a proposal imposing a five-centavo tax on text, multimedia messages, and calls. Approved was a consolidated version of Ilocos Sur Rep. Eric Singson’s bill and Suarez’s resolution imposing the five-centavo excise tax. Once collected, the proceeds will be set aside for the Department of Education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and state universities and colleges. House Speaker Prospero Nograles said he wants the bill’s authors and the Ways and Means committee to assure the public that any tax on text would not result in an increase in the existing text costs. “We will not allow any such additional taxes on the shoulders of the public," Nograles said in a statement. On the other hand, a taxpayers’ revolt looms over the proposed text tax. TXTPower also warned re-electionists in Congress they will pay dearly for making life even harder amid the worldwide economic crisis. “To rebel against this new tax is justified. Consumers, all taxpayers, expect the House plenary and the Senate to vote down this new tax," said TXTPower president Anthony Ian Cruz. He said that if the House of Representatives passes the text tax bill in a plenary vote next week, TXTPower will seek a record for the House of Representatives in the Guinness Book of World Records as “arguably the first and only legislative body to enact a new tax measure amid the worldwide recession." “We would submit the names of all congressmen who will vote for this new tax. I am sure their constituents would consider that when they vote in 2010," Cruz added. -GMANews.TV