Finance and Public Credit Ministry’s (SHCP) proposal to impose a tax to OTTs in Mexico from 2020 would also apply for Movistar Play, recently launched in the country. Telefonica wants to intervene in order to avoid being charged a double taxation for these services, because the company already pays a tax for its telephony offer.
‘What is needed to avoid is that there is a double taxation. It is a complex issue and a proposal that needs to be analyzed in depth. But, if there are people who are not paying taxes, they should pay them. We are also worried, and what we are noticing is that, if there is a market over collection in digital economy, that market will be reduced’, said Miguel Calderón Lelo de Larrea, Regulatory and Public Items President at Telefonica Mexico.
In relation to the proposal raised by the Finance Ministry to collect taxes from OTTs, the Telefónica Mexico’s Regulatory VP explained that they must know the proposal first, although the operator already pays taxes in the country, and so will Movistar Play. ‘If there are players who do not pay taxes, they must pay, so that it falls on the spectrum and it does not cost so much and, that way, it is compensated’, he said. The Finance Ministry has not presented the initiative yet.