2 million in penalties
The Australian Tax Office says Crown Resorts’ James Packer is on the hook for some US$362 million in back taxes for mid-2009 to 2014, according to multiple news reports.
MSN.com reports that the tax assessments are associated with some of the financing for Crown’s investment in Cannery Casino Resorts in the United States and other investments in North America. Of the total amount assessed, $250 million is the tax burden, leaving $112 in penalties.
The Asia Gaming Brief cites a statement by Crown saying it will “pursue all available avenues of objection (including, if necessary, court proceedings)” to prove that it is not in arrears.
“Crown Resorts is a model corporate citizen and pays its fair share of taxes,” said a spokesperson for the company, which is majority-owned by Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings. “In financial year 2015 Crown paid more than $640 million in taxes to all levels of Australian governments, which amounts to almost two-thirds of Crown’s Australian normalized profit before tax.”
Yahoo Finance reports that Crown owns a 24.5 percent stake in Cannery Casino Resorts, which operates locals casinos including the Cannery and the Eastside Cannery in Las Vegas, as well as the Meadows racetrack and casino in Pennsylvania. In fiscal 2015, Crown did not receive any profits or earnings from Cannery, and wrote down the value of its investment, resulting in a $55.9 million impairment charge. In March 2009, Crown pulled out of a $1.8 billion deal to buy Cannery, which would have been its first full acquisition of a gaming operation in the States.
