Government proposes tax for excessive gadgets

Looks like the Philippine Government wants to put a tax on everything as the PBA Party-list Rep. Mark Aeron Samberg proposes a law that aims to tax people for purchasing too many gadgets which will generate more income for the government.

“We need cellphones but we don’t need five or six cellphones or 10 cellphones. That’s the aim of this bill, it’s just to prevent people from buying too much on a certain product and at the same time generating income for the government,” Sambar said.

So how will the government track our purchases? Well, by just using the tax identification number. Rep. Sambar wants to impose a 5% tax in where the proceeds that will be collected will be allocated for Electronic Waste Disposal and Management Program for old gadgets.

Department of Finance has said that they’ll look into the bill because there are already other forms of taxes and importation dues.

I think this proposed bill is BS. We already have VAT and importation on gadgets and we have one of the highest income tax in Asia. Also, with the current evolving trends in technology, it’s really hard to know how many gadgets that we will need and we will buy in the future.

Source: GMA News