Congressman files bill to tax text games and downloads

A BILL has been introduced in the House of Representatives to tax all entries for text games, specifically on text brigades, polls, surveys and gambling, where participants are most likely to win anything of financial value through excessive text messaging.

Rep. Joel Mayo Alamario of Davao Oriental, chairman of the House Committee on Games and Amusement, said that although mobile carriers profit the government has yet to get revenues from them.

Almario noted that the revenues from these text games could help the government address its huge deficit.

Under House Bill 3222, taxes shall be imposed on text messages on promotions, contest by text messaging, downloading of ring tones, pictures and icons, which are usually accessed by a four-digit number.

However, SMS, or short messaging service, sent to a “regular” subscriber, post­paid or prepaid, is be included in the tax scheme, he said.

Almario’s proposal also prohibits mobile carriers from passing on the tax to the consumers through additional fees or charges.

“There is a need for the immediate passage of the bill because mobile carriers seem to have taken advantage of the Filipinos’ predilection to their cellular phones that they have managed to include the use of SMS in almost every aspect of the consumers’ lives,” Alma­rio said.

“SMS are used not only to send messages but to conduct polls, surveys, text brigades and even games of chance, or text gambling,” he added.

He said cellular phones are no longer a gadget solely for the rich because mobile-phone companies have made them available to the masses through clever marketing strategies.

“The influx of text gambling with the use of cellular phones in our country has affected all sectors of our society. It has reached our homes through the use of powerful mediums such as the television, newspapers, and the radio, bringing the popularity of cellular phones and text games to an unprecedented high,” Almario added.
--Maricel V. Cruz