21 August 2009
Dear Senators and Congressmen of the Philippines:
RE: Taxes, Duties and Fees On Books
I am uncertain if you are aware of this. The Great Book Blockade of 2009 continues in spite of repeated government “press release” that it has been lifted. Our Republic continues to persecute readers in spite the fact that the President of the Philippines touched on this very issue during her State of the Nation: “Taxes should come from alcohol and tobacco and not from books. Tax hazards to lungs and livers, do not tax minds. Ang kita mula sa buwis sa alak at sigarilyo ay dapat gamitin sa kalusugan at edukasyon.” As a citizen, I have to wonder, if this is mere rhetoric. As this is a matter of revenue and law, I come to you with questions and hopefully, in your duty as legislators may find answers and clarification not just for myself but for my fellow citizens and avid book reader.
Quite recently, Philippine Genre Stories made a post quoting The Curious Couch:
Here’s the lowdown on the DOF exemption. According to the NBDB, the individual book buyer must apply for duty exemption at the DOF. You get the exemption the same day you apply for it; you have to apply for an exemption every time you have books coming in. It’s just how it is right now. An EO zero-rating books is in the works and it just might make our lives as individual book buyers much easier. But we still have to wait and see.
Manolo Quezon made public an email from Andrea Pasion-Flores, NBDB. I quote:
First of all, thank you for your column today regarding the complexity of the process that individuals have to go through to get books out of the post office duty-free. I had a conversation with a DOF official this afternoon, and I assure you that they are sympathetic to the plight of individuals getting their books through the mail. However, I was told that they are constrained by law (the Tarriff and Customs Code of the Philippines) to charge those administrative fees. The fees are not import duties, nor are they the VAT (and I would really check if I were the individual assessed that I am not charged VAT because it does sometimes happen though perhaps this is inadvertent). The DOF shares the view that books should not be charged VAT; it’s in the National Internal Revenue Code after all (Sec. 109 I think).
So I did what any person of the 21st Century would do. I googled the said laws. In my search, I found these salient points.
(I am neither lawyer nor do I aspire to be one so pardon me, If I get my terms mixed up)
Philosophical, historical, economic, scientific, technical and vocational books specially imported for the bona fide use and by the order of any society or institution, incorporated or established solely for philosophical, educational, scientific, charitable or literary purposes, or for the encouragement of the fine arts, or for the bona fide use of and by the order of any institution of learning in the Philippines: Provided, That the provisions of this subsection shall apply to books not exceeding two copies of any one work when imported by any individual for his own use, and not for barter, sale or hire. Bibles, missals, prayerbooks, koran, ahadith and other religious books of similar nature and extracts therefrom, hymnal and hymns for religious uses, specially prepared books, music and other instrumental aids for the deaf, mute or blind, and textbooks prescribed for use in any school in the Philippines: Provided, That complete books published in parts in periodical form shall not be classified herein.
2) 30 Years ago, on 7 August 1979, the Philippines became a signatory to the United Nations (UNESCO) Agreement on the Importation of Educational, Scientific and Cultural Materials which says that:
Contracting States undertake not to apply customs duties or other charges on, or in connection with, the importation of books, publications and documents; educational, scientific and cultural materials.
3) The National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 Section 109, “Exempt Transactions”; subsection q and y respectively:
(q) Transactions which are exempt under international agreements to which the Philippines is a signatory or under special laws, except those under Presidential Decree Nos. 66, 529 and 1590;
(y) Sale, importation, printing or publication of books and any newspaper, magazine review or bulletin which appears at regular intervals with fixed prices for subscription and sale and which is not devoted principally to the publication of paid advertisements;
What is made clear by Manolo Quezon’s column is that:
The point, of course, is that no such exemption is even called for. No taxes on imported books are supposed to be assessed. The government supposedly scrapped a policy that was illegal in the first place, and then tried to appear responsive to public opinion. Its too-late-the-hero posturing already gypped many citizens during the time finance and customs levied the illegal book tax; and citizens continue to be gypped by customs assessors in various post offices.
This time around, since the commercial bookstores are still in the clear, it doesn’t look like any official will take up the cudgels for the consumer, whose existence was studiously ignored by the DOF in the first place. So if the book tax is to be truly eliminated, citizens will have to get together with fellow citizens and organize themselves.
As a citizen, I interpret these three things to mean: that the Government of the Philippines can not charge:
- customs duties on imported books and similar material,
- fees associated with books and,
- Value Added Tax.
Often, a citizen such as myself lament how broken our nation is. The Great Book Blockade is not a scandal of an official stealing from the treasury. It isn’t a scandal in the sense that an official of the government would spend an exuberant amount on food or travel. The Great Book Blockade is neither sexy nor newsworthy for many people.
The reality is that the Great Book Blockade is a scandal. The Philippines is breaking international law and that a country that values education so heavily as our culture and society does, can so easily make it difficult for its citizens to enrich themselves and disregard the value of reading.
Perhaps it is a misunderstanding of what education and what intelligence means.
Personally, education and intelligence is not to be merely tied to memorizing and remembering facts and figures. Just as Creativity isn’t merely tied to the Arts. If that was the case then google must be pretty intelligent and Manny Pacquiao is not a creative and genius fighter.
Reading, writing and counting become keys to unlock the greater mystery of creativity, which in my humble opinion is the ability to combine multiple disciplines to create something new. Reading and the availability of material from every genre and every field is essential building block of creativity and that, is intelligence.
Are our laws unclear? Is that why government blatantly disregards these laws or cowardly turn a blind eye from? Is it a question of bureaucratic pencil pushers? Is it a case of bullying by the government because ordinary citizens can not know better or can not lobby their cause so effectively? Whatever the reason may be, I ask your intercession that the persecution of the ordinary, book reading public cease.
With respect,
Cocoy Dayao
Citizen
***
This letter first appeared on my tumblr.
Popularity: 2% [?]
While I agree wholeheartedly with your point of view, I think the book taxes are a symptom of a much, much bigger issue, the reliance of “government service fees” as taxation policy. This is done – essentially backdoor taxation of the people – while landowners declare taxes as much as 1/10 of true value, and pay 1/10 what is rightfully owed.
Tax policy is the illness, of which book taxes are an irritating rash.
Joe
much earlier, cocoy. we signed onto florence during the admin of pres. quirino.
Yeah, I thought so too that it was signed then. I saw on this page that it was opened 22 November 1950. But for some odd reason, the Philippines, according to unesco signed it 7 August 1979.
Suffice to say, I’m confused. lol.
You probably know better.
Anyway, regardless of the exact date, the Philippines is still a party to this agreement.
A leader who says one thing. Then does the other is what we have as
President. They have to tax anything. To cover their expenses in
their travel in America. Including those sumptous feast at Le Cirque.
And stay at Waldorf Astoria Hotel. They are the Masters. You are the
carabao and the slave. Do your part. Go plow the rice fields.
Any international agency you can bring this issue to? Better get some help there too.
Chino F, UNESCO was involved the first time around. They got us this far.
No taxation is per se bad.
If it goes back to taxpayers in terms of social dividends and safety nets, why even cry wolf?
I didn’t say taxation was bad. I’m saying the law says there should be no taxation and fee whatsoever in relation to books. Setting aside the social implications of whether books ought to be taxed or not, in the simplest denomination, the Philippines is violating international law. It is violating its own laws. Where then does it leave us? Why then do we still have laws when every one of those laws can be twisted and bent to suit the need of the Palace?
Were it the handiwork of the Palace, well, I guess, let them commit another ‘lapse in judgment’ since theirs is the highest office of the land and to them belongs the perks and spoils.
We are the governed so maybe they know something we don’t know any better. Let them govern, how twisted or bent it can sometimes be.