Previous Story
Gambling operators cry excessive tax
|
Posted on Jun 15 1999
The House Ways and Means Committee may look into complaints by local lotto and jueteng or numbers game operators that the government has imposed excessive taxes on their businesses in a first step to correct any inequity.
Committee Chair Rep. Karl T. Reyes said both gambling operations have to cough out for commission fees and earning tax aside from paying the usual taxes, such as business gross revenues tax and a $150,000 license fee.
Since these taxes go to the General Fund, the representative said a legislation will have to be passed to amend existing tax laws in a bid to bridge the loopholes.
Reyes has met with representatives of lotto and jueteng operators to discuss the problems. “They are only asking us to look into the situation,” he said in an interview.
There are only two jueteng operators and one exclusive lotto operator on Saipan who are forbidden to conduct their businesses on Rota and Tinian as provided under the law.
They are also restricted as to their target markets because the lotto can only be sold to Japanese and locals, while jueteng caters only to Filipinos and Chinese, according to Reyes.
“I don’t believe that they should be segregated,” he pointed out, noting that these restrictions have shrunk their markets especially now when the island is experiencing its worst economic difficulties.
On top of these limitations, the Commonwealth has imposed tariffs that are repetitious of the fees and taxes they are currently paying.
Reyes said the commissioner’s fee is a percentage of the earnings tax which operators pay to the government. “It looks like they are overtaxed,” he added.
Although there is no specific action that the Legislature has committed to take, the Ways and Means chairman said the committee will study the taxation system to correct any inequity, “but I don’t think we should impose new taxes on those operators.”
There is no record of how much these gambling operators remit to the government every quarter or the amount the Department of Finance collects from the businesses.
