Home / Poker News July 2008 / Congressman McDermott takes another stab at UIGEA as pro internet gambling pressure increases
Congressman McDermott takes another stab at UIGEA as pro internet gambling pressure increases
Posted by: James Carter. - Sun, 2008-07-20 07:12
After Democratic Assemblyman, Lloyd Levine’s initiative to legalize online poker in the state of California, the UIGEA is yet again under siege, this time on a federal level. Congressman James McDermott introduced a bill called “Investing in Our Human Resources Act of 2008” which is aimed at turning internet gambling and poker taxation into a $40 billion revenue stream for the federal budget. According to the bill, the money obtained this way would aid foster care participants with educational and training programs, and it would also help the reorientation of workforce stuck in sectors hit hard by the economic downturn.
The numbers cited in the bill are obviously based on a study performed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which suggested that the government was missing out on about $8-42 billion a year due to not having imposed a tax on internet gambling activities.
If one adds to that the costs that the implementation of the UIGEA in its current form carries, it will become extremely obvious that even if the cited sums are exaggerated, McDermott’s bill would generate Uncle Sam a great deal of money, even if most of it would be money saved rather than money gained.
Mc Dermott had introduced an act aimed at turning online gambling into a federal revenue stream together with Barney Frank’s IGREA but when the latter was met with stark opposition from the congressional committee, his initiative was dropped too. The “Investing in Our Human Resources Act of 2008” could only go into effect if an IGREA-like bill was passed first though, as it apparently only contains recommendations on how to tax the above named activities, IF they were first legalized.
The PPA (Poker Players Alliance) was quick to comment on the bill, in positive terms of course.
If McDermott’s bill were passed, the road to an IGREA-like piece of legislation would obviously open up, and thus poker – though mistakenly cataloged as gambling in the first-place – would finally be legal to play online again in most U.S. states.
