MEXICO CITY, Mar 20 (Reuters) - Mexico's tax authority said on Wednesday that companies controlled by business tycoon Ricardo Salinas, one of the country's richest people, owe the government 63 billion pesos ($3.78 billion), the latest escalation in a high-profile dispute.

The figure was presented during President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's daily press conference. A day earlier, Salinas had taken to social media platform X to deny he had stopped paying taxes. He also accused the tax authority of extorting businesses by inflating the amount they owed and then offering discounts.

"We will not give in to extortion and that is why we do not accept any discount. We are not going to pay more than what is correct and for no reason are we going to pay double or triple, as this administration intends," said Salinas, who according to the authorities has 17 open tax lawsuits awaiting resolution.

His conglomerate, Grupo Salinas, is made up of a diverse range of companies in sectors including financial services, specialized commerce, media and telecommunications.

Salinas said the government was using the tax lawsuits to distract from Mexico's major problems.

"Number one, the violence and insecurity and the fear generated by the population, and number two, this smell of corruption that is already stinking a lot and in many places," he said, adding that he and his companies have already paid "obscene" amounts of tax.

At Wednesday's press conference, Lopez Obrador said there was nothing personal against the magnate and asked Salinas to present evidence of corruption in his administration.

The dispute escalated last week after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Salinas in a tax dispute involving his company, internet provider Totalplay. The next day the National Guard closed a golf course operated by Salinas in the tourist destination of Huatulco, in the state of Oaxaca, an act the tycoon described as a "tantrum".

Lopez Obrador has said the golf course is on public land and the government has declared the area a protected natural zone.

Neither Grupo Salinas nor the Presidency immediately responded to a request for comment from Reuters. ($1 = 16.6790 Mexican pesos) (Additional reporting by Raúl Cortés; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Nia Williams)