Philippines Considers Tax on Streaming Services, GMA Says

A woman browses the Netflix Inc. homepage on a laptop computer amongst illuminated screens bearing the company logo in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Tuesday, June 26, 2018. Addressing a room filled with New Delhi’s business elite earlier this year, Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings offered a prediction: His company’s next 100 million customers will come from India. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

Karl Lester M. Yap, Bloomberg News

May 28, 2022

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(Bloomberg) -- Incoming Philippine Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno is considering taxes on digital transactions and streaming services such as Netflix Inc. subscriptions, GMA News reported.

Digital transactions have the tendency to “evade” taxes unlike purchases made over-the-counter, GMA News cited Diokno as saying. Among these digital transactions are subscription-based services such as video and audio streaming, it said.

“Right now, if these are able to evade taxes, why not tax it? It’s a service. Who can afford Netflix? Not the poor,” Diokno was quoted in the report.

Read: Debt Is Top Priority for Diokno as New Philippine Finance Chief

President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his economic team face pressure to raise revenue to curb debt, which had ballooned due to the pandemic. Outgoing officials have warned against financing debt with additional borrowings.

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