President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s administration will consider taxing digital services and engaging the private sector in more projects, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno announces Wednesday.

In May, the new finance chief was reported as telling that he wanted to tax transactions online and streaming services like Netflix. Several lawmakers have also introduced legislation to tax companies like Spotify, Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

During a palace news conference on Wednesday, Diokno stated that taxes on digital services were based on the concept of “fairness.”

“Yung tax on digital services, it is only fair na ita-tax natin ‘yon,” Diokno said at a press conference. “If you buy it from regular stores, nagta-tax ka, ay bakit naman kapag digital hindi ka nagta-tax?”

(The tax on digital services, it’s only fair that we tax them. If you are buying it from a regular stores, you get taxed, so why shouldn’t digital also get taxed?)

“I think in the sense of fairness, dapat magkaroon ng tax especially medyo, if you think about it, yung mga nakakaangat yung nakakakuha ng ganyan, yung digital payments,” he added.

(I think in terms of fairness, there should be a tax [on digital services], especially if you think about it, it’s those who are better off who avail of those services with digital payments.)

The Department of Finance suggested excise taxes on single-use plastics, a tax on cryptocurrencies, and a VAT on network operators in May of this year.