Zubiri calls for additional taxes on ‘virus’ POGOs

By JOHN CARLO M. CAHINHINAN

Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri has vowed to expedite the passage of a proposed legislation that seeks to impose additional franchise tax to Philippine Off-shore Gaming Operators (POGOs) when it finally reaches the Senate.

Zubiri made the remarks in reaction to the latest plan of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to impose additional tax on the earnings of local online sellers.

According to Zubiri, instead of going after these striving online sellers, it’s better “tax heavily the POGO industry that’s growing within our country like a virus.”

“Lets slap a heavy excise or Franchise tax on top of the income tax charged to them. Why make our small enterprising and entrepreneurial Pinoys suffer from the threat of taxation and allow foreign POGO operators to operate while evading or under paying their taxes,” said Zubiri.

The Senate is still awaiting for the House of Representatives to approve a proposed measure that seeks to impose five percent franchise tax on the annual gross income of offshore gaming hubs.

Earlier, House committee of ways and means chair Joey Salceda, principal author of a fiscal regime for POGOs under House Bill No. 5267 said the proposed tax system for foreign offshore gaming hubs can generate as much as P45 billion on its first year alone, compared to last year’s revenue of about P6 billion.

Under HB 5267, POGO operators are required to pay a five percent tax “on gross receipts from their operations covered by the law granting their franchise.”

A 25 percent withholding tax with minimum threshold of P600,000 per annum will also be imposed on the annual salary of foreign personnel working in PAGCOR-accredited offshore gaming hubs.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)