Editorial

A tax by any other name

FROM where we sit, it looks like Rep. Danilo Suarez of Quezon province wants to raise government revenues on the backs of beleaguered consumers, who are already feeling the bite of the global financial crisis. Ironically, he uses this crisis as the basis for an ill-advised plan to raise the cost of text messaging, so that the government can collect 10 centavos for every message sent. His simple math says this will translate to P200 million daily from the two billion text messages sent every day—money that he says will be used to fund unnamed educational programs for students who can no longer afford to go to school.

Suarez admits that consumers will most likely have to bear the burden of this new fee but offers a lame appeal to the telecommunications carriers not to pass on the cost in view of the billions in profits they have already made. The appeal is as silly as it is ineffective. With no incentives to do otherwise, corporations will do what they were organized to do, create value for their stockholders by maximizing profits.

Before Mr. Suarez and his colleagues in the House proceed, they should remember that consumers have consistently opposed any tax on text messaging, which is the cheapest and most popular form of communication among the masses. Raising the cost of text messaging would hurt precisely the people that Mr. Suarez claims he wants to help. These consumers will not be pleased with the likes of Congressman Suarez when they turn into voters in 2010.

But the intrepid Mr. Suarez does not want to stop there. He wants to tax cell phone calls and Internet access as well—as if consumers aren’t already paying enough by way of the much-despised 12 percent value-added tax on all products and services.

The best thing we can say at this point about the congressman is that he does not candy-coat the bitter pill he wants us all to swallow—even though his reasons for proposing it are vague. The same cannot be said of Camarines Norte Rep. Liwayway Vinzons-Chato, who cautions her colleagues against calling the 10-centavo fee a “tax” because of the strong public opposition to a tax on text. Someone should tell the congresswoman that the public isn’t that stupid, and that the fee they want us to pay is still a tax by any other name. If Congress wants to raise money, they should charge lawmakers for every ridiculous bill and suggestion they make. The government would raise a fortune in no time. We can begin by passing the hat to Representatives Suarez and Vinzons-Chato.