Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act Faces Long Uphill Climb
20/05/2010 8:05
Type Online Report
Theme poker
As a follow-up to a story previously discussed in these pages, we are pleased to report that the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee did in fact have a hearing on Jim McDermott's Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act on the morning of 19 May, 2010.
There was no vote held on the act, so there is currently no guarantee that it will be sent on to the house. In fact the act as proposed faced a lot of opposition. What is most interesting is the source of the opposition.
Everyone expected the anti-gambling members of the committee to oppose the bill, which of course they did. But the bill also took flak from members in favor of regulation.
The biggest issue that McDermott will have to work out if he wants to see this bill move forward is a proposed 2% tax on ALL DEPOSITS made to online casinos. The tax is to be levied immediately upon deposit, whether the funds are actually gambled or not. McDermott argued that anyone making a deposit at an online casino intends to gamble that money, but other members of the committee were not as convinced.
So the result of the hearing is not unexpected: this bill has a VERY LONG uphill climb before it would be able to be passed, IF it is able to be passed. Still, discussion on its merits is a positive thing.
Perhaps the members of the committee should have discussed a more fundamental issue: people have a right to the pursuit of happiness and thus cannot lawfully be prohibited from doing what they please with their own hard-earned money, provided they are not harming anyone else. But then again, those in government do not seem to believe that they are here to protect your fundamental rights, they are here to raise a revenue for themselves any way they can. And they will act as such.
"Q"
Wheretobet.com
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