CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that foreign oil companies operating in Venezuela must pay taxes he insists they owe, or else leave the country. "The companies must pay what they owe,'' Chavez said during his Sunday television and radio show. "If they don't pay, they must leave.'' Chavez said that many private oil companies have been evading taxes for years, and they must be charged retroactively with interest on any debts. Officials have said that many declare losses to avoid paying income tax. "It's not possible that an oil company can come here, pay 1 percent royalty and not pay income tax, and still declare losses,'' he said. According to Venezuelan law, oil companies must pay a 30 percent royalty, but companies producing heavy crude - which is expensive to produce - were allowed to pay 1 percent royalty until last year, when the government raised it to 16 percent. "All oil production gives earnings,'' he said. The speech by Chavez came one day after National Assembly president Nicolas Maduro said lawmakers will investigate international oil companies accused of evading taxes and other charges. Maduro, a pro-government lawmaker, was quoted by the state-run Bolivarian News Agency as saying lawmakers expect to find evidence of tax evasion, royalty debts, production over the limit set by the government and irreversible damage to some wells. He said investigators would question top officials of the state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, who negotiated agreements with foreign companies after Venezuela allowed them to enter its oil industry in the mid 1990s.
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