US Senate Considers Internet Gambling Tax

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

01 March 2010

Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) have proposed measures to tax and regulate internet gambling in the United States as part of the 'Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification' Bill (S. 3018), introduced recently in the Senate.

Section C addresses the legalisation of online gambling using elements of Congressman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) HR 2267 draft Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. The internet gambling provisions had already won over 65 co-sponsors from among both Democrats and Republicans.

S.3018 adopts a 2% tax rate on deposits held by the online gambling firms as originally envisaged under Congressman Jim McDermott’s (D-WA) HR 2268, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act which attracted another five co-sponsors.

Senator Wyden had previously sought unsuccessfully to introduce a bill to use Internet gambling revenue to offset the costs of health care reform. A Joint Committee on Taxation analysis found that Internet gambling taxes, could generate nearly USD42bn over 10 years for the US Treasury. The move to tax internet gambling revenues in the Wyden/Gregg bill counterbalances revenue losses associated with other provisions of the Bill.

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