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Mexico – Taxes in Nuevo León could be introduced gradually

By Phil - 12 December 2016

During the debate over new casino taxes in Nuevo León the leader of the Deputies of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party) Marco González, has proposed a ten per cent tax on gaming rooms which will be applied gradually by two per cent a year.

Lawmakers from his party are also considering the application of a monthly fee of 400 pesos a month for each gaming machine. Mr. González said that casinos already pay the IEPS (The Special Excise Tax on Production and Services) and this is to stay at six per cent in Nuevo León as well as a tax on prizes and that also stands at six per cent. Collection of that will, he said, stand at around $220m pesos. The new ten per cent consumption tax would be introduced gradually so that casinos are affected “as little as possible.”

He said that the 10 per cent would be introduced at a rate of around two per cent a year starting next year so that by the end of the term of Governor Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, who will serve as governor until 2021, it will stand at around 10 per cent.
Mr González said while that he had met with The President of the Mexican Gaming Association (AIEJA) Miguel Angel Ochoa he had not been pressured in any way to make changes to the draft law.

Last month Mr Angel Ochoa said that a tax increase on gaming currently under consideration in the Congress in the State Nuevo León would have a negative impact on the industry and could put jobs at risk. The new tax is part of next year’s tax reform bill and were put forward to the state congress by the state government. If approved the new tax could raise up to one billion pesos in a year, with a 30 per cent going to the fund for a special security fund and the rest to the state coffers in order to reduce the deficit.
However Mr Angel Ochoa said that local lawmakers had shown a willingness to hear their concerns and remained optimistic. The Mexican Gaming Association has put forward a proposal of 6 per cent tax on profits made by casinos in the state of which 33 per cent would be destined to the local municipal governments.

However opposition members from the PAN (The National Action Party) and from the Movimiento Ciudadano (Citizens’ Movement) party have strongly rejected the new proposals put forward by the Institutional Revolutionary Party saying that they will not support it.