The Sunday Mail
MANNY PACQUIAO is the number one taxpayer in the Philippines.
Government records show the former eight-division champion, who will fight American Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas on May 2, headed the list of top individual tax-payers for 2013.
Information posted on the Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue website put the boxer-turned-congressman at number one with 163.84 million pesos (US $3.72 million) in taxes paid.
This was about 64 percent higher than the second-highest taxpayer.
Internal revenue chief Kim Henares has confirmed that Pacquiao topped the list but stressed that he still had a case pending over alleged non-payment of taxes earlier.
Although hailed as a national hero, Pacquiao has run foul of tax officials before and is embroiled in a dispute with the revenue bureau. Officials say he owed at least 2,2 billion pesos in unpaid taxes for 2008 and 2009.
“It (the case) is still ongoing. No, he has not settled. Being a top tax-payer . . . does not mean he paid the correct taxes. The two (issues) are not synonymous,” Henares said in a statement.
Pacquiao previously insisted he paid the 2008 and 2009 taxes in the United States and therefore did not need to do so in the Philippines because the two countries have an agreement allowing their citizens to avoid double taxation.
Tax office officials allege Pacquiao failed to provide documents proving his US payments and that he may still owe some money in the Philippines where there is a higher rate of taxation.
Pacquiao, 36, has parlayed his sports fame into a fortune in commercial endorsements, a showbiz career and even election to the Philippines congress.
This earned him a spot in Forbes magazine’s list as the 11th highest-paid athlete in 2014, although still behind Mayweather, who topped the list.
The two are expected to earn millions of dollars from their upcoming fight in Las Vegas.
Pop music star Justin Bieber said this week he would be at Mayweather’s side when the unbeaten American walks to the ring on May 2.
Bieber, a friend of Mayweather, has accompanied the fighter to the ring at other fights. This week he told the website TMZ.com he would be part of the boxer’s entourage for the fight.
The 21-year-old Canadian isn’t the only celebrity backing Mayweather. Rapper Ludacris has said on a radio show Mayweather is training as never before.
“I’ve never in my life seen him this focused and training this hard,” Ludacris said. “He knows that everything is on the line.” – AFP.
