Taxing SMS in the Philippines

We wrote about it earlier, way earlier already, and we thought that it died already - certain quarters in the Philippine government - the Department of Finance - think about imposing a tax on SMS or short messaging. Reason? Firstly, it is the right of the state to impose taxes. Secondly, SMS has some characteristics that make them taxable, like high usage - an official says there is too much texting -, especially jokes. Well, it is the job of the finance minister to think about ways to get taxes higher, but may be they should concentrate on finding those that evade taxes. PLDT and Globe Telecom, leading market players in the Philippine telecommunications industry protest already with various reasons. But clear is that the Philippines are the texting capital in the world - and that telecommunications and IT are among few of the sectors growing. They should think of ways to enhance those sectors further against growing competition, instead of milking what is there.