The Macau government’s take from direct taxes on gaming dropped 35.7 percent in year-on-year terms during the first seven months of 2015.
The city collected MOP51.9 billion (US$6.5 billion) in fiscal revenues from direct taxes from gaming between January and July, show data disclosed by the city’s Financial Services Bureau. That compares with MOP80.7 billion collected in the prior-year period.
Direct taxes from gaming brought in 80.5 percent of the Macau government’s total revenue in the seven months to July 31.
Macau’s Chief Executive, Fernando Chui Sai On, last week said he remained “prudently optimistic” regarding the development of the city’s gaming industry, despite 14 straight months of casino gross gaming revenue (GGR) decline in Macau measured year-on-year.
Mr Chui again stated that the Macau government would introduce previously flagged austerity measures to control spending if the city’s average monthly GGR dropped below the MOP20-billion threshold used to prepare the revised 2015 budget.
The government expects to collect a total of MOP85.9 billion in fiscal revenue from direct taxes from gaming in full-year 2015. By the end of July, it had already collected 60.5 percent of that amount.
The city levies an effective tax rate of 39 percent on casino GGR – 35 percent in direct government tax, and the remainder in a number of levies to pay for a range of community good causes.
The Macau government fiscal surplus was down by 59.1 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of 2015 to MOP27.2 billion. The revised 2015 budget – approved by Macau’s Legislative Assembly in May – foresees a full-2015 surplus of MOP18.8 billion.
