#ncga: Taxing & regulating gambling?
That’s an idea that intrigues us. Taxes on gambling are paid voluntarily, as opposed to the current confiscatory practices of our state and federal revenue agencies. Doing something like this — coupled with reducing or eliminating some of the confiscatory taxes — might be something we could get behind.
Setting up a legal framework would bring gambling out of the shadows and produce an economic boom like you see in Nevada. Surely, the Cherokees out west don’t want to see any competition for their casino cash cow.
We received mail from our good buddy Paul “Skip” Stam this past Tuesday musing about the issue of taxing and regulating video poker:
Subject: House Bill 922, Video Sweepstakes Regulation and Taxation
Friends, I have heard that we will discuss video poker in caucus tomorrow. Just to be sure I asked the sheriffs’ ass’n if they had changed their position on this. I believe it was 2006 when all 100 sheriffs asked us to ban vp because of its connections with criminal activity, family impovershment and corruption. Recent state supreme court decisions(including one on june 11, 2015) have these folks leaving the state in droves. I look forward to a good discussion tomorrow. Since the Governor, Lt Governor, Attorney General and the Senate leadership all oppose vp we can discuss the pros and cons of moving forward with this proposal. See you tomorrow. Skip
In case you wondering WHAT ol’ Skip is talking about — it’s HB 922. And here is what the Sheriff’s Association’s big kahuna has to say about that:
Rep. Stam,
As a follow-up to our recent conversation, this is to confirm that the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association opposes House Bill 922, Video Sweepstakes Regulation and Taxation.
The sheriffs of North Carolina see first hand the criminal activity associated with video sweepstakes operations and the devastation that their abuse causes to families in our state.
Our current laws outlawing video sweepstakes machines have been upheld by the NC and US Supreme Courts on several occasions, as recently as a few weeks ago. The US Attorney for the Eastern District of NC recently reached a settlement agreement with several operators of these machines by which the operators agreed to leave North Carolina and to not continue their illegal operations in our state.
The sheriffs of North Carolina urge the General Assembly to oppose any efforts, such as House Bill 922, that would make video sweepstakes machines lawful in our state.
Respectfully,
Eddie Caldwell
All of the anti-gambling folks can rest easily. Republican leaders say they don’t plan to touch this with a ten-foot pole.
Regulating and taxing Video Sweepstakes makes perfect sense–which is probably the reason legislators and bureaucrats oppose it. We have casinos and the lottery in NC, but object to moms and pops sweepstakes establishments? What nonsense! In the scheme of things, this is harmless. Opposing video sweepstakes defies common sense. I suppose Big Government just wants to maximize its lottery take all for itself.