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Mexico – Mexican lawmakers want tax down by 50 per cent

By - 23 January 2017

While protests against the new ten per cent tax on gambling continue to grow members of the PRI party (Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI) have formally presented a request to the governor Jaime Rodríguez Calderón for a 50 per cent discount for senior citizens.

The leader of the Deputies of the PRI party Marco González Valdez told press that the new proposals would be discussed in response to growing protests by senior citizens as well as workers in the gaming industry who fear that the new tax will put as many as 10,000 jobs at risk in the state of Nuevo León. Last week retirees met outside the Nuevo León Congress in order to deliver a petition which had been signed by six thousand senior citizens. Members of the demonstration assured press that the protest had been organised themselves via social media.

Members of the Union of Amusement Centre and Casino Workers (SINTOLED) also protested in front of the Congress last week to request in writing that the tax be lowered to 5 per cent from 10 per cent as authorised last December and not only for retirees and for pensioners but for everyone. In addition union representative Carlos Valles also asked lawmakers for their support for the opening of 10 more gaming establishments that are currently closed and which had previously employed 3,500 people. He also asked for the government’s support in reopening the casinos which were closed in the city of Monterrey during the last administration which left 3,000 jobless. If all three of the proposals were accepted he said that the state economy would be benefit by an additional $700m pesos per year.

While gaming legislation remains stalled in the Mexican Congress the state of Nuevo León is becoming a battleground for how gaming establishments are taxed. The new tax is part of this year’s tax reform bill and local officials hope that the new tax could raise up to one billion pesos in a year, with 30 per cent going to a special security fund and the rest to the state coffers in order to reduce the deficit. According to local press reports local mayors have asked the governor not to back down over the new taxes.

Meanwhile the Mexican Gaming Association (AIEJA) has also asked that the elderly be exempt from new taxes which will be imposed on gaming establishments in the state. It is estimated that around 70 per cent of the income generated by casinos and betting centres in the state derive from senior citizens. The new tax rules that for every 100 pesos that the player spends ten per cent tax is payable by the player. The tax is charged the moment the player buys chips or tokens.

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