look news india
In this era of internet and social media, making videos and creating content on YouTube has become a big and full-time career for today’s youth. But for the content creators and YouTubers in the neighboring country Pakistan, such a news has come out, which has increased their worries a lot. Pakistan’s main federal government agency, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), has prepared a new proposal, under which it is being said to tax YouTubers on the basis of how many times their videos are viewed (i.e. on the basis of video views) instead of their actual earnings.
As soon as the news of this new scheme of the government came out, a new controversy has arisen on digital media and internet. Experts and content creators say that if the government collects tax only by counting views without understanding the ground reality, then many YouTubers may have to deposit more tax in the government account than their actual earnings. According to a report by ‘Maldives Insight’, this step of FBR has exposed a huge gap between the reality of online monetization (earnings from the internet) and the understanding of the taxing agency.
Main reason for opposition: Why views do not always mean earnings?
The logic of the people and digital experts opposing this new rule is very simple and practical. He says that the views received on YouTube are never a guarantee of fixed and fixed earnings for any creator.
This can be understood with a simple example:
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First aspect (number of ads): Suppose a YouTuber’s video gets 10 lakh views, but very few advertisements run on that video or the viewers skip it, then the actual earning from that video will be very less.
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Second aspect (country of audience): If another YouTuber’s video also gets only 10 lakh views, but the people watching his video are sitting in developed countries like America, Britain or Europe, then his earning will be many times more than the video watched in Pakistan or India.
This is why around the world, tax is always levied on the net income of any person or business and not just on the number of people watching its work.
The real math of YouTube monetization: What is CPM?
According to reports, YouTube’s revenue model does not work like a fixed salary. Creators earn primarily from advertisements shown alongside their videos, which in technical language is CPM (Cost Per Mille) It is said. This means how much money is being earned through advertisements for every 1,000 views.
You can easily understand how much this earning changes according to different content and market on YouTube from the table given below:
| Type of content/market | Earning Potential Per 1,000 Views (CPM) | reality of the situation |
| Low-demand market / general content | $1 (approximately) | Videos created for local audiences and on general topics, where ad rates are lower. |
| High-demand market / premium content | over $30 | Videos related to tech, finance or business which are watched more in America or European countries. |
| Short-Form Content (YouTube Shorts) | $0.4 to $0.6 | Views on short videos come in crores, but the money earned on them is very less. |
Danger of being taxed more than earnings
The most surprising thing amidst this entire controversy is that the tax rate for some foreign Pakistani content creators under this new rule 66 percent It is expected to reach. This figure not only shows a very aggressive stance of the government, but also proves how huge a practical gap there is between policy making officials and the practices of digital earning.
Experts say that if the tax is linked only to the number of views instead of the actual earnings, then a strange and scary situation will arise in the country where the total earnings of a creator will be less and his tax debt to the government will be more. In such a situation, the effective tax rate will become completely inconsistent, due to which many big and emerging creators may leave this platform forever, which will be a big blow to the digital economy.
