Small-scale miners sell less gold due to BSP’s 7% tax

MANILA, Philippines – Mines and Geosciences director Leo Jasareno on Monday said that small scale miners have sold less gold to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) following the implementation of the seven percent tax on the metal.

“What happened was that when Central Bank started collecting taxes from small scale miners they stopped selling gold,” he told Radyo Inquirer 990AM in an interview.

Lawmakers have earlier called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue to suspend gold tax following the decrease in the amount of gold sold to the BSP.

Jasareno said that it was different from the time when small scale miners did not have to worry about paying a five-percent withholding tax and a two-percent excise tax when selling gold to the BSP.

For more of the report, listen to Radyo Inquirer 990AM.