[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1 link=same] [bsa_pro_ad_space id=2]

Skip to Content

Legislation

Mexico – Mexico to consider proposal to increase gambling tax

By - 15 July 2019

Lawmakers from both the PAN party (The National Action Party) and the PES (Social Encounter Party) in the Chamber of Deputies have put forward reforms aimed at adjusting the collection of special taxes already imposed on casinos, through an initiative that will be analyzed in committees.

The new move aims to modify the Law on The Special Excise Tax on Production and Services (IEPS). The IEPS tax is imposed on certain products which are deemed harmful in some way to the population or environment such as soft drinks, cigarettes, alcohol and petrol and is already imposed on casinos for which it stands at 30 per cent. The new proposals also seek to modify the Law of Fiscal Coordination in order to apply a more federal approach when it comes to the distribution of resources generated by the industry.

Deputies are proposing raising the IEPS tax rate to 35 per cent not only on casinos but other games of chance. In Mexico federal resources are delivered to the states and their municipalities in order to compensate for their contribution to the country’s economy. The largest of these funds is the General Shareholders’ Fund. According to the latest proposals 10 per cent would be destined to the locations where the casinos and other betting operations are located in order to be used for the promotion and encouragement of physical culture and sport.

The project has been put forward jointly by deputies Ricardo Flores Suárez (PAN) and Ernesto Vargas Contreras (PES). The lawmakers say that ere are 409 slot parlours and casinos with 50 per cent of the industry currently concentrated in six states: Nuevo León, Baja California, Mexico City, Jalisco, the State of Mexico and Sonora. The states where there are no legally installed casinos are Oaxaca, Zacatecas and Tlaxcala.

According to the deputies the gambling industry accounts for 50 thousand direct jobs, more than 140 thousand indirect jobs and has economic benefit, when it comes to the payment of the IEPS tax, of $1,400m per year.

There are currently a number of moves afoot to change taxes on the industry and the latest announcement comes after Senators belonging to the left wing party the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) in June announced that they would put forward an initiative to increase taxes on gambling and change online gambling rules.

Share via
Copy link