The Treasury Commission of the Congress of Jalisco, in Mexico, approved on Monday the State Revenue Law for 2021, through which it introduces a 10% tax for slot machine prizes and casino games.
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro, who proposed the measure, argued that one of the goals of his term is to increase the budget to $6.2bn. This would be reached through the new Tax on Gambling Expenditures in the Revenue Act of Jalisco.
“We would collect around $20m with this new tax, which we’re already including in our revenue. We changed the Finance Act to give legal support to this tax,” said the president of the Treasury Commission, Deputy Gerardo Quirino Velázquez.
In addition, Deputy Enrique Velázquez González proposed that the revenue that would come from this tax be sent to the Red Cross, the Cancer Institute and Civil Hospitals. Deputy Sofía García Mosqueda also suggested that 25% of the resources be invested in the fight against problem gambling.
Last month, the president of the Commission assured that even though the new tax is detailed as a new Article, it was already in force in the Mexican state, and that they decided to separate it since there were different businesses that avoided it due to its ambiguous description.
“Different businesses like casinos were already operating but disguised as other things. Then we decided to establish a new list to be able to cover all those businesses that had the same characteristics as casinos,” Quirino Velázquez said.
