Tax contribution up 5.1 percent in Q1
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the country’s state-run gaming regulator, could be looking at a massive tax hike under a proposed reform package now being considered by Congress.
The Philippine Star reports that President Rodrigo Duterte’s Comprehensive Tax Reform Package would lower the corporate tax income rate from 30 percent to 25 percent, but would remove an “in lieu of all taxes” incentive currently utilized by some enterprises including PAGCOR, which not only regulates gaming in the country but in some cases acts as a casino operator.
PAGCOR currently pays a 30 percent corporate income tax but just 5 percent franchise tax on gross revenues from its operations, reported Inside Asian Gaming. The franchise tax on gaming operations conducted under its umbrella is “in lieu” of all other taxes and levies.
The amendment proposed by House Bill 7214 would make PAGCOR and its licensees “once again be subject to all applicable taxes under the Tax Code, even with respect to income generated from gaming operations conducted under its franchise.”
PAGCOR contributed taxes of PHP8.3 billion (US$155.4 million) in the first quarter of 2018, up 5.1 percent from the prior-year period.
