BIR and PAGCOR allegedly failed to get taxes from “online sabong” operations, according to Senator Tolentino.
On Monday, Senator Francis Tolentino chided the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for allegedly failing to withhold the 20% tax from the winning profits of “online sabong” (online cockfighting) operations.
During a Senate inquiry on the mysterious disappearances of 34 sabungeros, the senator said it appears that the government doesn’t receive any taxes from the “online sabong” industry.
“So ang lumalabas ngayon, walang buwis pa na tinatanggap ang pamahalaan buhat sa e-sabong… unlike, pakinggan mo BIR, sweepstakes winnings. Lotto—binabawas agad yun (kapag) nanalo ka, diba? Horse racing, may bawas yun. Sa e-sabong wala pa, bakit ganun?” Tolentino asked.
The senator also found that the government earnings from the “online sabong” industry, which has been operating for about 2 years, only came from the regulatory fee being collected by PAGCOR from license operators on every match. A regulatory fee costs only PHP 12,500 per match or “sultada”.
He also found out that some “online sabong” operations only remitted a scant amount of fee from the billions of pesos they would earn monthly.
“We are in a state of disarray by letting go of a big amount that should have gone to the coffers of government and used as ‘ayuda’ for drivers, farmers and fisherfolks,” the senator said.
READ ALSO: President Duterte Says Disappearance Of Missing Sabungeros Shouldn’t Blame On Online Sabong Ops
Under the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), legal or regulated gambling entities are supposed to remit a big chunk of their earnings to the national government.
According to Tolentino, the complexity in the dynamics surrounding the “online sabong” industry should be blamed on the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of the Solicitor General’s (SolGen) erroneous interpretations of Republic Act 9487 — the New PAGCOR Charter — which enabled the questionable authority of the country’s gambling regulatory agency in regulating “online sabong”.
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