PCSO Wants to Lower Stamp Tax on Lottery Tickets

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is asking Congress to lower the 20% documentary stamp tax rate (DST) implemented on the purchasing of lotto tickets to 5% citing that the current tax rate has affected their funding for their medical assistance program (MAP).

In a briefing of the House Committee on Appropriations on the proposed 2023 national budget, PCSO Chairman and former Rep. Junie E. Cua mentioned that the DST tax rate on lottery tickets “substantially reduced” the PCSO’s flagship charity program funding.

After the implementation of the  Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law or Republic Act 10963 back in 2017, the DST rate increased from ₱0.10 to ₱0.20 for each lotto ticket.

Cua maintains that the MAP budget decreased from ₱8.6 billion in 2018 to ₱2.1 billion in 2021 because of the 20% DST rate. He also mentioned that the MAP beneficiaries decreased from 528, 190 in 2018 to 272,130 in 2021.

For January to June of 2022, the budget for MAP was pegged at ₱850 million and only covered 110,403 beneficiaries.

“In fact, we would like to seek the support of Congress to reduce it to 5 percent so that we will be at par with the tax levied on Pagcor [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.]; Pagcor is levied only 5 percent. And yet it does not have the mandate that is required of us,” said Cua.

“We are supposed to use our funds to support medical assistance program with the national government while Pagcor does not have that kind of mandate,” he adds.

According to their estimation, Cua has said that they predict their net charity fund to hit ₱16.4 billion in 2023.

Source: Business Mirror