The Department of Finance (DOF) supports moves by Congress to raise taxes on Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs) and to require online gaming operators and service providers in the country to pay the franchise tax.
“The DOF fully supports the efforts of Congress to increase the taxes on the POGOs. These are the POGO operators and service providers,” said DOF Assistant Secretary Tony Lambino in the weekly economic briefing in Malacanang yesterday.
Lambino said DOF supports the proposal of House ways and Means Committee chairman Joey Salceda requiring all operators and service providers that are registered with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to pay the 5 percent franchise tax.
POGOs are currently slapped with a 2-percent regulatory fee.
Lambino also brushed aside claims of POGO operators and service providers that they are foreign companies and should be exempt from paying taxes. He said the fact the POGOs registered with Pagcor means they are operating in the Philippines.
Lambino said there are about 60 POGO operators — most of them are offshore or outside the Philippines — and more than 200 service providers that are actually in the country.
He said government raised P6.4 billion in withholding taxes from POGOs in 2019 and expects to raise at least P2 billion in withholding taxes monthly in 2020.
There had been calls for the suspension of the POGOs in the country, mostly run by Chinese, following a series of controversies and allegations of illegal activities like tax evasion, money laundering, corruption, illegal recruitment and sex trafficking.
President Dutrerte the other day said POGO operations should be regulated instead of being suspended or stopped.
Duterte had also assured the public of transparency in the collection and use of the funds generated from POGO.
