IRS/Seniat investigates source of opposition advertising spots

www.vheadline.com Posted: Thursday, March 13, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

IRS/Seniat National Tax Superintendent Trino Diaz has announced that the government is investigating the source of funding for the political propaganda that flooded opposition print & broadcast media over the past months ... especially those allegedly signed-for by the Coordinadora Democratica (CD) and Mujeres por la Libertad.

“We would like to know whether the spots were 'donated' and if they comply with the Donation & Events Law … if money for the spots was indeed donated, the groups and media outlets must pay regular taxes … if, on the contrary, there weren’t the result of donations, there is no problem for media outlets since it would be purely a commercial transaction.”

Diaz reports that IRS/Seniat received 655.7 billion bolivares of an estimated 659.4 billion in February … 396.2 billion from VAT and 129.6 billion from bank taxes.